
wkm 



T^" 




Class 
Book 



yp " i 



/ 



" 




SKETCHES 



SAFFRON WALDEN 



ITS VICINITY. 




™i (g&SYILI, 



1845. 



GLYPHOGRAPHY. 



SKETCHES 



or 



SAFFRON WALDEN 

AND ITS VICINITY : 

BY 

JOHN PLAYER, 

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 

BY 

JOHN MALLOWS YOUNGMAN, 



SAFFRON WALDEN : 

PRINTED AND SOLD BY G. YOUNGMAN, BOOKSELLER. 
1845. 



PREFACE 



The following papers were originally printed in the Essex 
Herald, and most of them in the Chelmsford Chronicle, 
two Journals of considerable repute in this county. They 
have therefore had already a circulation far beyond the locality 
which supplied the matter : but their chief interest must natu- 
rally be felt, and be best appreciated, in the Town where they 
were written, and in its immediate vicinity. The approval of 
some whom the writer very highly regards, has been the lead- 
ing inducement to their being printed in a separate form ; and 
he indulges a hope that, till some work better suited to the 
purpose of a local guide shall be published, this may be regarded, 
in a stranger's hand, in the light of a humble substitute. His 
earnest desire is that the "Sketches" may continue to inter- 
est, not only his intelligent fellow -townsmen, but those also 
who may visit the place, and find pleasure in contemplating 
the scenery which he has observed, with affectionate regard, 
from some of his earliest years. 

The Illustrations by a native artist, it is hoped, may be 
some recommendation to a work of this description : and 
while the writer congratulates himself that his papers are ac- 
companied by such proofs of the correctness of his own 
views, he trusts that others will be induced to stop and 
admire, where his own delineations give but an imperfect cha- 
racter of the objects he has attempted to sketch. 

Saffron Walden, 

May 1st, 1845. 



* 



A LIST OF THE 
SKETCHES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 





SKETCHES. 






No. 




PAGE 


Nc 


1 


AUDLEY END 


1 


1 


2 


DEBDEN 


6 


2 


3 


shed's LANE 


11 




4 


ASHDON 


18 


3 


5 


NEWPORT . 


24 




6 


THAXTED . 


33 


4 


7 


LITTLEBURY 


39 


5 


8 


HEMPSTED . 


48 


6 


9 


HADSTOCK . 


58 


7 


10 


SAFFRON WALDEN 


67 


8 


11 


DITTO 


74 


9 


12 


DITTO 


80 





ILLUSTRATIONS. 

audley end (frontispiece) 
the castle (vignette) 

PAGE 
S. WALDEN CHURCH, 

from the Park . 2 

LANE SCENE, DEBDEN 6 
THE CLAY PITS . 8 

NEWPORT CHURCH 24 

LITTLEBURY CHURCH 39 
HADSTOCK CHURCH 64 

THE PRIORY . 83 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS 



The RIGHT HON. LORD BRAYBROOKE, 3 copies, proofs 

The Right Hon. Lady Braybrooke, 3 copies, proofs 

The Hon. Richard Cornwallis Neville 

The Hon. Mirabel Neville 

The Hon. Louisa Neville 

The Hon. Lucy Neville, 3 copies 

The Most Hon. The Marchioness Cornwallis, proof 

The Right Hon. The Countess St. Germans, proof 

The Right Hon. Lady Louisa Cornwallis, proof 

The Right Hon.' Lady Elizabeth Cornwallis, proof 

The Right Hon. Lady Mary Singleton, proof 

The Right Hon. Lord Wenlock, proof 

The Right Hon. Lady Wenlock, proof 

The Hon. Miss Townsend, proof 

The Hon. Algernon Herbert 

Sir William Burnett, M.D., F.R.S., Director General of Naval 

Hospitals and Fleets, proof 
Vicesimus Knox, Esq., Recorder of S. Walden, 2 copies, proofs 

Andrews, Thomas, Esq., Hempsted, proof 

Archer, Mrs., Radwinter 

Archer, Henry, Esq., Ditto 

Baker, Mrs., Stamford 

Barber, William, Esq., Ashdon, proof 

Barnes, Mrs. 

Baron, Mr. Councillor 

Bewsher, Mr., Littlebury 



VI LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 



Biggar, John, Esq., Admiralty, Somerset House, proof 
Bird, Mr. Thomas 
Bishop Stortford Book Society 
Bishop Stortford Library 
Bliss, Edwin, Esq., London 
Bliss, Mrs. William, Chipping Norton, 2 copies 
Brightwen, Mr. George, proof 

Brise, John Ruggles, Esq., Spain's Hall, Finchingfield, proof 
Burdett, Mr. G. S., proof 
Burrell, Mr. T. D., Bookseller, Chelmsford 
Burrows, Mr. Councillor 
Burrows, Mr. William 
Butterfleld, Mr. Henry 
Butler, Mr. James 

Chapman, Rev. Dr. Benedick, Master of Caius College, Cam- 
bridge, and Rector of Ashdon 
Chater, Mr. William 
Clarke, Mr. Councillor Joshua 
Clay den, John, Esq., Littlebury 
Clayden, Mrs. Samuel, Linton, proof 
Collin, Rev. John, Quendon, proof 
Corn well, Mrs. 
Cranmer, Mrs., Quendon 
Day, Mrs. Anna Maria 
Day, Richard, Esq., proof 
Dunn, Hannibal, Esq., late Mayor, 2 copies 
Dunn, Mr. Henry 

Edwards, James, Esq., Downing College, Cambridge 
Edwards, Mrs. Owen, Great Chesterford, 2 copies 
Erswell, Mr. Charles, proof 
Fiske, Mrs. Charles, Fairy Croft 
Fiske, Mrs. Robert 
Forster, Mrs., Newcastle-on-Tyne 

Fossett, Benjamin, Esq., Admiralty, Somerset House, proof 
Frye, Mr. Thomas, Churchwarden and Town Treasurer 
(lent, G. W., Esq. Moynes Park, Bumpstead, proof 



LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. VII 

Gibson, Wyatt George Esq., Alderman, and part Brother of 

King Edward's Almshouses, proof 
Gibson, George Stacey, Esq., proof 
Gibson, Mrs. Jabez, 3 copies (1 proof) 
Gibson, Miss, proof 
Gibson, Mr. Jabez, proof 
Gibson, Mr. Henry, proof 

Gibson, Francis, Esq., Councillor, 3 copies, proofs 
Good, John, Esq. 
Good, Mr. George Frederick 
Graham, Rev. J., Hinxton 

Gramolt, Mrs., 20, Milk Street, Cheapside, London, proof 
Griffinhoofe, Rev. T. S., Arkesden, 3 copies, proofs 
Harris, Miss 

Hastie, Rev. H. H., Great Chishill 
Haylock, Mr. George, Ashdon, 2 copies (1 proof) 
Hobler, Francis, Esq., Bucklersbury, London, proof 
Holme, James, Esq., Linton 
Hopkins, Mrs., Scarborough, proof 
Houlton, Joseph, Esq., F.R.S., Lisson Grove, London 
Houlton, Miss, Falmouth, proof 
Hunter, William, Esq., Alderman of London, and Sheriff of 

London and Middlesex, 3 copies 
Jackson, Rev. George, M.D., Bury St. Edmund's 
Jackson, Mr. J. D., London, proof 

Johns, Edward Beldam, Esq., Windhill Lodge, Bishop Stortford 
Jonas, Samuel, Esq., Ickleton 
Jones, Edgar, Esq. 
Jones, Mr. William Taylor 
Leverett, Miss 
Leverett, Mr. John 
Leverett, Mr. Edward 

L. 12 copies . 

Meggy, George, Esq., Chelmsford, proof 
Mickley, Thomas, Esq. 
Miller, Mr. Jeptha 



VIII LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. 

Miller, Mr. C. Bayfield, 15, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea 

Nash, Peter, Esq., Great Chesterford, proof 

Nash, Peter, Esq., Cambridge 

Nash, Thomas, Esq.. Carlton Grange 

Nockolds, J. A., Esq., Stansted, proof 

Nock olds, Martin, Esq., proof 

Parker, Frank, Esq., Northampton 

Paul, John, Esq., Ridgewell 

Pollard, Rev. F. 

Pope, Rev. T. A., Littlebury, proof 

Portway, Mr. Peter 

Probert, Thomas, Esq., Newport, proof 

Robinson, Stephen, Esq., Wenden 

Robinson, Robert, Esq., Ditto 

Robson, Mrs., proof 

Rogers, Mr. Henry, Whitchurch, proof 

Saffron Walden Union Book Society, proof 

Saffron Walden Reading Society, proof 

Sampson, Mrs., Great Chesterford 

Sampson, Mr. John Pigot, Ditto, proof 

Smith, Mrs. James, Debden, proof 

Smith, Thomas, Esq., Alderman, and Master of King Edward's 

Almshouses 
Smith, Mrs. Alderman 
Spicer, Mr. Richard 
Spicer, Mr. Waite 

Spurgin, Mrs. Brandwhite, Bardfield 
Taylor, William, Esq., Bishop Stortford 
Thurgood, Mr. Councillor, proof 
Thurgood, William, Esq., proof 
Totton, Rev. William Jurin, Debden 
Webb, Mr. George, Byrd's Farm, 2 copies (1 proof) 
Wilkinson, Rev. Josiah 
Wix, Rev. Joseph, M.A., Littlebury 
Wolfe, Richard Birch, Esq., Wood Hall, Arkesden, proof 
Youngman, George, Esq., Mayor, 3 copies 



SKETCHES IN ESSEX, 



No. 1.— AUDLEY END. 

Surely the month of May is the most delightful of all 
periods in the year, to seek the liberty of the fields, and to 
remark the beauties of the natural world. How agreeable 
is the verdure, Variegated with flowers familiar to us from 
childhood ! The daisy, the butter-cup, and the pagle, the 
sweet flowers of infancy, with which we once struggled to 
fill the little lap, are now decking the park and the pasture 
with the characteristic imagery of spring. 

Entering the Park from the Abbey Lane, Saffron Walden, 
we pass the row of young limes on either hand, dressed in 
their earliest shade of annual green. Interesting indeed is 
the view, after advancing a hundred paces within the gates. 
The grazing cattle in the pasturage around — the deer on 
the hill to the north — the fields, the cultivated fields, far 
beyond the Park to the left of the Suffolk Column — the 
noble House of Audley End, peeping up from the vale 
westward — Lord Howard's Temple, to commemorate the 
restoration to health of George III. — the thriving trees, 
the oak, the beech, — all, all deeply interest the observant 
pedestrian. Looking backwards, we perceive, beneath the 



JL SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

arching branches of those spreading trees, the Church spire 
— an interesting feature in our local landscape at every 
point. We have now ascended the acclivity near to the 
Ice-house, and then again have descended to the road, 
passing one of the neat and pretty Lodges, built by the 
present Lord Braybrooke, for utility and ornament to this 
noble domain. 

In the Audley End road, another pleasing view bursts 
upon the eye. Shortgrove grounds, Wenden, &c, to the 
left, the hamlet of Audley End to the right, with the farm- 
house in the vale, held by Mr Alderman Smith. Cultiva- 
tion is associated with plantations, and varied wood and 
verdure, so as to form a fit subject of meditation for the 
practical man, as well as the contemplative members of 
God's vast family. When, too, with the walks and hills, 
we are enabled to associate the enrapturing pleasure with 
which we traced them in the buoyant days of boyhood, and 
see the same glorious sun that cheered our path then, now 
gilding the hedges, the banks, and the sloping corn fields, 
we observe them with an intensity of feeling which cannot 
be expressed. 

Following the course of the old lichened wall that bounds 
this portion of the Park, we see on the right the beautiful 
limes towering high, their lower branches spreading across 
the path, and forming a pleasant shade. When these noble 
trees are in blossom, and the bees are busy among the 
branches, how sweet is the air ! how rich with natural per- 
fume ! On the left is a majestic fir tree, tapering to its 
summit, and fringed down to its projecting base, worthy of 
being a part of one of those local views, which, every 
spring, are exhibited to many an admiring eye, in Lon- 
don's vast town. Here, in the road, and along its paral- 
lel greensward, in our youthful days, a country-fair was 
held in the month of August. It is said to be transfer- 




§ p.: 

QnJ] 

d 
® * 

«8S 



AUDLEY END. 6 

red and continued on Walden Common ; but the fair now, 
and then — we speak of fifty years ago — is not the same 
thing. There was a show, perhaps, and something of the 
mummery of the day : but there were cheese-stalls, and 
gingerbread dealers — comparatively few people — great good- 
humour — boughs projecting from the cottagers' homes, de- 
noting that a glass of beer and a slice of ham might be had 
within — children blowing wooden trumpets, and holiday- 
folk in holiday clothes ; and in the afternoon and evening, 
such an admixture of sober sedateness with light-hearted, 
innocent jollity, that the whole scene was worthy of Wilkie's 
pencil ; but it is now gone by as a feature of the last century, 
and soon will be forgotten, as those who witnessed it die off, 
and bury its remembrance with other trifles that are past. 

Going further, we reach, after passing the principal en- 
trance, surmounted by a noble Hon, the bridge which spans 
the Granta. There we see in the back-ground, eastward, 
the princely Mansion. It is a gem — a rare gem — and 
ought to be admired. On the north, the old Elysium gar- 
dens are broken up and gone ; but they were pleasant in our 
earlier days. To the privileged few, enjoying retirement 
and a book, on a summer's morning, it was a sweet retreat 
from the din and turmoil of busy life. The stream that pass- 
ed through, and the greensward, are the same ; and nature, 
unassisted, still revels with its soft and pleasant airs, among 
the trees that surround this well-known spot. 

Leaving the bridge, and entering the parish of Littlebury, 
there is the transparent limpid brook, which still bub- 
bles up as it did in our younger life, when its pure affu- 
sions were so grateful to the rambling boy : it was indeed 
welcome, before pledges of temperance were ever heard or 
thought of; and suited well with their pursuits who had no 
idle funds to draw upon at a moment's notice, in a local 
ramble. 



4 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

Pursuing the road towards Littlebury, we have there a 
good view of Lord Braybrooke's abode, with its lawn and 
river frontage, and much do we admire it. We have had 
opportunities of dwelling upon its beauties internally, and of 
sharing in the kindness and hospitality of its noble inmates — 
and upon these we could dwell with grateful pleasure — but 
this would prematurely shorten our morning's ramble ; and 
therefore we proceed on to the Littlebury Lodge. There 
a new one, with cheerful bay windows, and an elevated 
tower, is just finishing on the northern side, to supplant, we 
presume, the elderly lady who was always hitherto soberly 
placed, beneath the protecting shade of the lofty wall. It 
is a change, indeed, for the better, and indicative of the 
growing taste of the noble owner, and would form also a 
pretty vignette or tail-piece, should his lordship publish a 
second edition of his interesting book on Audley End. On 
the left of the road the plantation towards the Aviary has 
been thinned ; and there lie many of the trees of an age 
gone by, reminding the passing traveller that he too shall 
lie as low — or lower still — in a short period ; proving that 
the life of man, in the best estate, is soon no more than a 
brief epistle from a distant country, or a tale that is told. 

At the extremity of the road the village Church of Little- 
bury shews its tower above the trees in the foreground; 
while the fields on the right and left of the road, are marked 
with the produce of the rising year. Time was when the 
highway went according to landscape gardening — in a curve 
to the left, and over hill and dale : now, like a Newmarket 
cut, it is straight as an arrow, and the coach-and-four is 
viewed for many minutes before it reaches the spot at the 
one-floor lodge, by which we turn to the Duck-street en- 
trance into the Park. There are the kitchen-gardens, and 
the arboretum on the right, and on the opposite side, the 



AUDLEY END. O 

farm, bounded by the ever-flowing watercourse, which issues 
from the Park. Then, again, we enter upon a sweet and 
tranquil scene, bounded on the north side by the deer-park, 
and its luxuriant trees and crowning groves : while we 
saunter undisturbedly by the margin of the separating 
stream; but cheered by its rippling contributions to the 
harmony — the natural harmony — of the morning hour. 
The path through the park is a pleasant stroll to the con- 
templative mind, while the many are busying themselves in 
life's active duties, and think not, perhaps, that the beauties 
of creation are unfolding themselves every moment to in- 
vite them abroad. 

Leaving the Park, we pass the newly-erected Almshouses 
upon King Edward's foundation. Some of the aged in- 
mates are sunning themselves, seated in the recesses by the 
gravel walk ; while the foreground is richly decorated with 
flower-beds and the verdant plat. It is a noble effort of 
charity — charity's brightest emanation — to see the aged of 
both sexes thus relieved from the anxieties of life, and 
charmed to fulness with the pleasures of a retreat, with 
which but few can compare. It is an interesting conclusion 
to a charming walk, which, at this lovely season, may well 
be recommended to others. Yet there are but few, perhaps, 
who can look upon the whole with the eye that memory 
fondly assists to enrich it with past joys and beauties that 
can never fade, while intellect holds its empire, and re- 
membrance is charmed by many dear and heartstirring 
recollections of the past. 



Saffron Walden, May 16th, 1843. 



SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 



No. 2 — D EBDEN PARK 



Whichever way your inclination leads, it is equally plea- 
sant to stroll in the vicinity of a town like Saffron Walden — 
seated amid the undulations of very fertile lands — when the 
fields and the trees are just dressed out in the beautiful ver- 
dure and foliage of spring. A resident naturally varies his 
walks : — sometimes he repairs to the retired lane, and wanders 
along the edge of the arable land, now covered over with 
young corn : at others he seeks the eminence, whence he may 
look around, and take in as much as the eye can compass 
at one sweet survey. Thus influenced, we, who have our 
beloved domicile in the midst of the valley, direct our steps 
to the descent into the town from the London road, where 
to the south is the way to Debden. To reach that point 
where the descent begins, we have naturally to ascend to 
the opening road which leads to this rural village ; and the 
ascent continues, with slight variations, for a considerable 
distance. The asthmatic patient need not, however, be 
dispirited at the hill before him, if, by gentle effort, he 
ventures with us. 

As soon as we pass the cottages on the right, and Mr. Bird's 
Lime-kiln beyond — (by the bye, chalk and lime are known 
to the children here before they learn their letters, although 



DEBDEN PARK. 7 

we have an infant-school or two — palings and doors shew 
the utility of chalk in various striking characters, but sel- 
dom understood by more learned hands) — the hedge and 
the bank begin, which on one side of the way are shortly 
interrupted by conspicuous buildings termed Mount Plea- 
sant; and truly these humble residences are among the 
most agreeable in the locality for variety of view and healthi- 
ness of situation. On a fine spring morning, when the 
window is opened, and the pure air is inhaled, unalloyed by 
any unseemly exhalation or prejudicial miasma, while the 
lark sweetly carols to the sky — the lovely beauteous dome 
spread over the fair scene of natural life by the Almighty 
Architect of the Universe — it must be a senseless clod of 
humanity indeed to behold the scene unmoved, and to cast 
the perceptions around without some fine thought, such as 
Cowper's, when he gratefully wrote — 

" My Father made tbem all ! " 

Passing along — with an occasional glance on either side 
— we come to the milestone. It is on the hedgeside of a 
pretty piece of greensward; and there it has stood faith- 
fully, through storm and sunshine, through summer and 
winter, for many a year. It is an old friend to us ; for it 
was there in our boyish days, when that same bit of green- 
sward won for a time the marked attention of the playmates 
let loose from the trammellings of school, in order to enjoy 
— oh ! how deeply ! — the pure breathings of the fields and 
groves. We cared not for this money- getting world, for we 
had a pleasant world of our own — and there we revelled till 
hunger's demands led us home again. 

On the left, we see the old bricked pest-house, with its 
young-born poplars, removed some distance from the road, 
up a green lane, surrounded by fields. High and elevated, 



8 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

it was doubtless posted there, to catch the breezes, and to 
bear away the pestilential atmosphere of its occasional in- 
mates into thin air, till rendered harmless by its general 
diffusion. When we read of the ravages in former times of 
the plague and the small-pox, before science had so miti- 
gated their effects, we can imagine the horror which led a 
small community to consign the lovely child, or the venerated 
parent, to a lonely abode in the fields, there to waver be- 
tween life and death, till danger as to others appeared to 
have gone by. Isolated from all they loved, it seems as if 
they were placed there that they might be weaned from the 
earth and the living, before malady could accomplish its 
intended sacrifice. Latterly, the house has been appropri- 
ated only to some cases of small-pox ; but it stands a me- 
mento of the past — of that age or ages, when pestilence 
stalked through the land, with all its heart-rending and up- 
rooting consequences. 

Look to the right at the joyous view for many miles, and 
past days are for a while forgotten. The lark is mounting 
with its sweetest song, as if he revelled in the glorious ex- 
panse, and felt his freedom. The lands are all cultiva- 
ted lands — neither heath nor waste is there — and the eye 
sometimes rests on the groves and trees of Audley End and 
Littlebury Green, — then sweeps along in the direction of 
Newport and Debden, or hovers about the retired rustic 
residence, of which very few mark the landscape in this vi- 
cinity. On the left is a thrifty plantation of young larch, 
and the nightingale sweetly warbles from his favourite haunt; 
the sound of approaching horsemen is heard for some time 
ere they come in view, but the nightingale sings on undis- 
turbedly in his beautiful home. 

Tracking the road a few furlongs more- — with here and 
there a turn or an elbow — we pass the Clay-pits — a well- 



~v~ 'j/ : 







YYiE ©LM [pom 



SNT (JLYPHlHiKAPHY 



DEBDEN PARK. \) 

known spot — with an entrance from the road, worthy of 
the artist's notice — and then come to a gate, whence we 
look over some of the fields of the Rosse farm, a part of Lord 
Braybrooke's estate. Down in the distance, Shortgrove's 
ornamental grounds attract attention ; but the view from 
this spot is free and pleasant, while in the vale is a water- 
course, along which, many a time and oft, in earlier life, 
with one companion of boyhood, now no more, we sought 
recreation in the meadows and rural paths — paths which, 
as then, are little visited, because of their remote direction : 
few trace them for convenience, and fewer still for simple 
enjoyment. 

Descending the road, on the high banks of which are 
plantations of fir trees, we see the homestead belonging to 
the Rosse farm, now and for many a year occupied by a 
sensible man and worthy tenant, Mr. Turner Clarke.* The 
brook — as fifty years ago — still runs unfettered across the 
road; and to the left, in the direction of Wimbish and 
Thaxted, is the same broad green lane, verdant as ever. 
Years have altered it but little; and here and there the 
wandering tribe may find a spot to pitch their tent, and 
suspend the kettle above the freeman's hearth, while the 
infantile Egyptians, unencumbered with bandages, may en- 
joysweet nature's carpeting till wearied with a child's delight. 
But in a chase like this — unjostled by life's busy crowd — 
the contemplative can seek health in grateful exercise, with 
a degree of liberty not always attainable in fields and groves. 

Pursuing the road, we soon come to Debden parish — of 
the straggling order, with farms and cottages here and 
there ; but where is the Church ? Let us wait awhile — the 
Rectory comes first : there, on the left, it is agreeably situ- 

* Mr. Turner Clarke died April 30, 1844, having; occupied the 
Rosse farm, or been a resident upon it, for upwards of 59 years. 



10 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

ated, removed from the traveller's close observance. Honor 
be to its gentlemanly occupant ! May that retirement 
which advancing years expressively demand be crowned by 
an enviable peace ! 

Turning to the right — the road from hence to Newport 
— we skirt the park, containing the manor house of Debden 
Hall. Remembrance traces its several occupants for fifty 
years or more, but rests with pleasure on the generous and 
open-hearted Magens, who now keeps warm the hospitable 
hearth of this modern mansion. Near by is the village 
Church — within the park. It is an agreeable scene — the 
home of thought — where we see God in his beautiful works, 
which spring has so lavishly scattered around, and then can 
offer holy and mental worship to the beneficent Creator to 
whom a temple is here devoted, so free from all the* detract- 
ing buildings which so frequently surround it in populous 
parts. There is something irresistibly gratifying when we 
find a church like that of Debden, so removed from constant 
desecration, and in such sweet retirement, leading the 
mind from life's low grounds to immortality and heavenly 
peace. How different this to the din of cities, and the pla- 
ces of public business ! Here let us muse awhile ! — 

" The holy calm absorbs 
Each wayward thought and every fruitless wish ; 
While airs serene no troublous warrings raise, 
To interrupt the peace I here enjoy." 



Saffron Walden, May 2%nd, 1843. 



shed's lane. 11 



No. 3.— S HED'S LANE. 



Travelling folk in search of the picturesque very often 
go a great number of miles to see places not nearly so in- 
teresting, after all, as their own. Doubtless in this highly 
favoured country — and we know it too from personal obser- 
vation — there are many parts which by being more favoured 
than others with local beauties, are favoured in return with 
due notice by the people aforesaid. When the season comes 
round to seek the indulgence of a rational curiosity, these 
quit their comfortable homes, to combat with many defi- 
ciencies in country quarters, yet with a dogged perseverance 
in the pursuit of the " sublime and beautiful," that is amply 
repaid by the tone and energy imparted to the mind and 
feelings, for many days afterwards, if not months and years, 
by so desirable and healthful a change. A placid-spirit and 
a well-furnished pocket are highly essential in these pictur- 
esque wanderings : for, as it has frequently been said — what- 
ever the young and sanguine may imagine — that no couple 
can live upon love only — so the " sublime and beautiful " are 
painfully exciting without a succession of those comfortable 
accommodations which have oftentimes most charmingly 
exhilarated us when far distant from home, and among new 
faces as well as new scenes ; but still there are disagreeables 



12 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

in travelling — we would not willingly mention localities — 
it would not be fair after a lapse of years — and things 
may have wonderfully altered for the better — disagreeables 
arising out of ill-furnished apartments, bad attendance, and 
miserable supplies, that, in a lone situation, have strikingly 
convinced us that all is not gold that glitters, till we have 
wondered why we had cast ourselves into such a situation, 
leaving dear home, and all its concatenating essentials, to 
be so used, and to pay for it most dearly into the bargain. 
But to many a change is the pleasure of life ; and thus, 
after proceeding another stage, perhaps, we have found all 
we could desire, and so hearty a welcome as to throw every 
care into the back-ground, upon which we closed our book 
of lamentations with a gratitude that might indeed be felt, 
but could not be expressed. Recollection reminds us of a 
few such changes, as we revert to Dartmouth, to Keswick, 
to Edinburgh, to Matlock, to Aldborough, and some other 
places where we have truly thought, when the day came for 
our departure, it was a pleasure to settle the bill, without 
at the same time discharging, for that was impossible, all 
the obligations arising from attentive, candid, and hospit- 
able treatment, in a friendly, comfortable inn. 

In our day-dreams of contemplative felicity, when we 
have looked at the clouds traversing the lovely heavens, we 
have thought insensibly of spots over which those self-same 
clouds might, in their rapid careerings, quickly dispose 
themselves, with peculiar delight — a delight, however, 
which, from various causes, may never more be excited, in 
our minds, by like scenes and similar treatment. To give 
indulgence still to the observant faculties we are thus led to 
think more and more of domestic haunts and local beauties. 
Yet this is no new indulgence ; for often, after long pro- 
tracted wanderings, and many recordings with diurnal full- 



shed's lane. 13 

ness, we have come back to Essex and to home, feeling 
most deeply satisfied that, notwithstanding we had enjoyed 
many pleasing varieties of hill, dale, and woodland, those 
of our own place and neighbourhood were clearly entitled 
to our warmest and most affectionate admiration. 

The ramble which we now propose to take is hard by our 
own hearth ; for a few minutes bring us to ShedVlane. It 
is but a stone's throw — close by the Bury Hills and Man- 
deville's old Castle, and runs eastward, where the road 
commences which leads to Little Walden, and Linton, in 
Cambridgeshire. Mr. Nockolds's improving house and 
grounds are at the south corner, and the ropery and pound 
— the generally open pound — are on the north side. In a 
minute we come to the pond and the well- cultivated fields, 
both right and left, held by Mr. Seamer Spicer. But here 
we are nearly at our journey's end, for at the second or 
third gate on the north side, we stand imperceptibly to 
look and admire the sweet landscape before us. In order, 
however, to take in a more comprehensive survey, which is 
hardly necessary, we will pass those elms and mount the 
gate on the opposite side, not so much to rest as to be seat- 
ed in the midst of one of the most interesting amphitheatres 
that nature ever formed. Oh ! it is rich with exquisite beauty 
at the present moment : the young corn is indeed green, 
and the trees and hedges are just clothed in their matchless 
attire. Fertility goes hand-in-hand with assiduous cultiva- 
tion ; and the varied fields, with the intersecting allotments 
(those valued accessions to the cottager's comfort), appear 
like a vast garden, where our heavenly Father is ready 
and pleased to bless the laudable exertions of his diligent 
children. The gentle airs that rustle the corn, are breath- 
ing the hymn of gratitude to the Source of all goodness, 
and the happy lark bears it upward, in sweetest harmony, 



14 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

till we lose the song in the heavens, while the notes are 
more deeply recorded upon the observant and grateful 
heart. Oh ! it is a holy theme to contemplate our Almighty 
Maker in his splendid works ! — and this imparts a wondrous 
charm to all we see. The sun is shining with lovely influ- 
ence over this extensive picture ; and the air is still fresh- 
ened with recent rain, while the mind is harmonised by the 
expressive stillness that assists our contemplation. 

Shed's-lane leads to Buckenoe barn, belonging to Byrd's 
farm, which farm stands in its new and diversified character 
more to the left. Success to its occupant ! may skill and 
application secure its reward ! By the side of the barn is 
an ample pond, constantly supplied with excellent water 
from its perennial spring, which would probably furnish 
the town with all it requires, should its future improvements 
render it desirable to convey it into the valley. To the 
right is St. Aylott's, with its old manor-house appendage — 
a moat ; now the homestead of one of Lord Braybrooke's 
farms. Southward is Sewer's End, its mill and dwellings, 
all elevated in the landscape in that direction. Near by 
is Pouns wood, and a field or two off, Pouns hall, another 
farm, where, in early days, lived (without any — the slight- 
est disparagement to its present respectable occupant) an 
honest man, a guileless character, with the most amiable 
feelings. He is gone, many years ago, to his rest, and an 
unpretending child, an infant in his days, has lately followed 
him to glory. 

The Union -house for a large district, a well-regulated one, 
with a part of it for a home — a quiet amply-provided home 
for some aged parishioners — is seen in the hollow by the 
Sewer's End road. If every such establishment were watch- 
ed over by men of the same mind as those we have the happi- 
ness to know in connexion with this, poverty's pangs, in 



shed's lane. 15 

the time of old age, would, we honestly believe, be few in- 
deed. 

Southward, on an eminence (when we look at it we are 
often reminded of Mount Parnassus), is Sheer-hill, a plea- 
santly-situated farm-house, formerly belonging to the Martin 
family, but now the property and residence of Mr. Waite 
Spicer, whose lady, seven years since, published an interest- 
ing volume, entitled "The Gem of Christian Peace, and 
other Poems." Here she may well enjoy otium cum dignitate 
in her pleasant retirement, not forgetting, we trust, that 
poetry of the mind, which throws so much interest around 
every comfortable home like that of Sheer-hill. 

To its right, is the Thaxted road, running due south, 
separated in one part by Railey and other fields, from 
Middleditclr's conspicuous mill in leaden-colour dress. In 
that direction, too, is the Pest-house and its attendant pop- 
lars, with Ruse's mill, in virgin white, new-topped since 
Youngman's sketch was made, which has been presented 
by him to the Saffron Walden Museum. 

Looking westward, we see Shortgrove, Mount Pleasant, 
and the entrance to the town ; also Audley End domain, 
with its woody elevations, with green pasturage and fields 
perceptible above the trees. More remote, are village lo- 
calities and plantations ; while nearer, going northward, is 
the Deer-park — always an interesting spot, both from site 
and associations. This park is bounded in front by Mad- 
gate slade, and on the right by the road leading to Cambridge. 
On the opposite side of the road are some of the parochial 
allotments, occupying Turner's charity-bequests, hired — 
beneficently hired — by Mr. Gibson, in order that, at a 
reduced rent, he might assist the town in carrying out the 
benevolent object of appropriating plots of good ground for 
the comfort and benefit of the poor. Oh ! how admirable 



16 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

they look ! How like one large garden ! What a sweet 
feature in the landscape ! And there in Warner's capacious 
field, belonging to Mr. Francis Gibson, we see more of these 
allotments. There is a luxury in wealth when its possessors 
lend themselves to encourage the useful among the orna- 
mental. Lord Braybrooke, and all who have aided the 
allotment system, will have cause for the most gratifying 
reflections in consequence, even to the sundown of a long- 
continued life. 

On the north, there is a fine sweep of productive tillage, 
with a variety of trees ; the uplands are peculiarly marked, 
while nearer in the perspective are Wesley wood and Wes- 
ley farm. Yes ! in boyhood the worthy dame whose family 
then occupied that prominent homestead, was kind — most 
kind — to our little scholastic troop. She was happy in seeing 
us happy ; but she kept bees, and on one memorable occa- 
sion they excited a fever amongst us, as we had previously, 
no doubt, excited one amongst them ; and they resented it. 
Their stings, though but surface ones, are perceptible still : 
acute as they were, they are not, however, so irritating as 
those unfeelingly inflicted by the ill-bred of the order mam- 
malia. Beyond is Little Walden Park, and the country 
towards Linton ; while nearer is Grimsditch wood, to the 
left of Byrd's farm. The view all around embraces many 
miles — it is truly capacious ; and in the bosom of this, to 
us, deeply-interesting scene, is the town of Saffron Walden 
— old Saffron Walden, born, indeed, without our knowing 
when. It is here apparently a picturesque valley, for trees 
intersect the dwellings ; and as we raise the gratified vision 
on every hand, it rests for awhile on those, which in almost 
all directions, skirt the horizon. 

Returning homewards but a few rods, and passing the 
elms already mentioned, we stop at Mr. Spicer's gate ; then 



17 



we have a better view of the northern side of the town and 
the beautiful spire of its well-known Church — the spire 
erected by the lamented and judicious Hickman — rising 
out of a clump of trees. We are still sufficiently elevated to 
observe the road of entrance to the town, where we see also 
the house in which we first thought of and completed a 
humble view of the pleasures of " Home." 

It is associations, many and varied, which render the 
scene, at this peculiar season, when every spot is verdant 
and beautiful, most deeply attractive. The hedges are cov- 
ered with blossoms ; indeed it is now everywhere pleasant 
— pleasant, too, is that picturesque cottage, built by Mr. 
Francis Gibson, at the foot of Lofts-lane, which must not 
be overlooked. It stands near to those meadows which 
were sweet retreats in youthful days. Memory lingers 
over them, in enrapturing reflections that revive many a 
dead thought, and give new spirit to many a dormant 
feeling. 

Our sketch is but feeble compared with the panoramic 
view ; and while we are sure that few towns or villages can 
present one more extensive or more beautiful, we are dis- 
posed to admit that the slightest colouring in excess, if that 
be perceptible — which we think is by no means the case — 
may reasonably be set down to early predilections, familiar 
observation, and a laudable partiality for the place where 
the heart was first led to feel the beauties of a country 
home. 



June, 1843. 



18 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 



No. 4.-ASHD0N 



Any stranger approaching Saffron Walden in this direc- 
tion, must think that the town is very pleasantly situated. 
The view from the north side of the Common, by which 
runs the public road to Ashdon and Haverhill, is sufficiently 
elevated to enable the eye to compass the lands on the 
south side, and to observe the properties which surround 
this place of public resort. There is a ridge, running par- 
allel with the road, which forms a terrace beneath the 
embowering trees, planted in a double row along this, the 
upper side of the Common. This is an agreeable walk, ex- 
cept when the busy bustling housewives of the town send 
forth their household linen to be blown about, much to the 
alarm of timid horsemen and wayward cattle. Many re- 
marks might be made upon the practice, but as we are now 
on a ramble, we think it best to forbear. Cleanly practices 
are, however, always to be commended; and certainly 
nothing is more distinguishing than to have well-bleached 
linen, one of the reasons, we presume, for thus exposing it 
to universal observation. 

Leaving the Common we pass by Grove Place, to Copt- 
hall. The road all along commands an agreeable prospect ; 
and unquestionably some of the pleasantest residences in 



ASHDON. 19 

the vicinity are subject to the lowest rents. The grateful 
cottager may look upwards and around, on his return from 
daily labour, and while partaking too of his wholesome fare, 
and feel that his heavenly Father affords him a constant 
theme for pure and holy reflection, which is not appreciated 
by thousands who have greater opportunities than he has 
of observing nature in all the lovely changes which distin- 
guish the revolving year. 

Copthall is a lowly collection of buildings. No one must 
think of a hall of splendid dimensions and architectural 
adornments. That sort of hall, if ever there were such an 
one on the site spoken of, is entombed in forgetfulness, 
or has been removed — let others say where — before the 
memory of man. The peasant's family now occupies the 
humble dwelling, while the farm and farm-buildings are 
held of Lord Braybrooke, by that benevolent and worthy 
member of the Town-Council, Mr. Nathaniel Catlin. 

The road rises, and on the right is the hanging wood, to 
the north of Pouns Hall. The part we see clothes the sides 
of a hill. Some persons might suppose that this was once 
a site for exhibiting public malefactors : not so ; for, although 
the corporate body, doubtless, had in former days the un- 
enviable privilege of seeing execution done upon egregious 
malefactors, this was not the place where — as the Corporation 
records mention several payments for the requisite machine 
— that machine was publicly erected. 

There is not much variety, neither is there considerable 
traffic, upon the road beyond ; but it is a pleasant agreeable 
walk for a contemplative man. In our younger days, it 
possessed extraordinary charms. On the way to Rickett's, 
in the time of the fathers — peace to their memories ! — we 
had many a sweet holiday at that pleasant homestead. 
Fifty years have gone by, and yet it is all as fresh in the 
memory as the joy of yesterday ; and the fellow-schoolboy 



20 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

of that period is traced through manhood to his grave, with 
an affectionate recollection that seems to imprint our own 
footsteps more and more upon the path which is unerringly 
conducting us to the same sure and certain abode. 

As we ascend the hill by the chalk-pit, marked by some 
sage and solemn firs (we much prefer the sweet and elegant 
larch at this verdant season, and, indeed, throughout the 
year), we call to mind a few events, which are among the 
household tales of the locality ; yet we will mention but one — 
the accidental death of an only son, who in the care of his 
young sisters was so injured as to be carried home to breathe 
his last. The sorrows of parents thus affectingly bereaved of a 
beloved youth are sacred to every heart : and sympathy must 
arise in every feeling and benevolent mind in reviewing 
such an instance of early and unexpected bereavement. 

Beyond a plantation or two, we see the Redgate farm and 
Robin's grove. Pleasant recollections accompany the for- 
mer, but who named the grove, our knowledge serves not. 
The friendly robin — robin redbreast — is here, for he appears 
to like our locality : but some swain, more remarkable than 
his neighbours, may have given the cognomen to the grove 
for aught we know : it is, however, a pretty name for a rural 
resort. 

An arm in the road carries us by the pastures where St. 
Aylott's is situated. It is an imposing structure for a farm- 
house, built in the 15th century, and on a part of the pro- 
perty which once appertained to the dissolved monastery of 
Walden. It is large and roomy, and was formerly sur- 
rounded by a moat, most of which still remains, to remind 
us of periods in our national history less secure than our 
own, and of castellated abodes, and constant preparations 
for concealed or unexpected foes. When Thomas, 4th 
Duke of Norfolk, was about to suffer death in 1572, he 
told his son, who was then to inherit his property, that he 



ASHDON. 21 

hoped he would grant a lease of it to Bowles, " a true and 
honest servant " as the father ever had. This was a com- 
mendable legacy from a grateful master. Lord Howard — 
the last of this name at Audley End — subsequently had a 
faithful tenant here, Mr. Thomas Headland, for fifty years 
— a period creditable alike to both parties ; and when Mr. 
Headland was desirous of giving up the farm, through age 
and infirmities, his lordship is said to have insisted on his 
retaining it, that their sands might run out together. But 
this was not the case ; and Mr. Headland retired to Walden 
town, where he died at an advanced age, in a house on the 
west side of the Common. 

At the back of St. Aylott's is Great Hales wood, well- 
known to sporting characters in this vicinity. The rousing 
horn has awakened attention, year by year, at this exten- 
sive covert ; while a numerous field, of every grade, allured 
by its music, have forsaken their occupations to mingle in 
the fray. 

On the left is Bright's farm, rather in the hollow, in the 
midst of its fields and plantations ; a pleasant spot to nes- 
tle in, where the birds sing sweetly and uninterruptedly. 
Bright' s wood, as laid down in the map, is now despoiled of 
its fair proportions. In days gone by, many a noble phea- 
sant disported among its shades. 

Northward, in the same parish, — that of Ashdon, — is 
Rickett's, the farm so well remembered. The homestead 
is on a hill; it is therefore observable for a considerable 
distance. The fathers are indeed no more, with whom, in 
our boyish days, we had a welcome round their hospitable 
hearth. The venerable head — the sturdy yeoman — the gay 
and happy maiden — are characters of other times. A new 
generation has risen up ; and the grandson has lately com- 
mitted to their quiet resting-place, in the church-yard, the 
wife of his youth, and the infant offspring of their loves. 



22 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

Thus it is in life's probationary scene ; and in the fairest 
situations, after a few years — what is fleeter than Time ! — 
all more or less have such monitory lessons brought to their 
attention, with an authority few minds would presume to 
resist. 

Near by is the Rectory, the favourite abode of the Master 
of Caius College, Cambridge, the worthy and estimable Dr. 
Benedick Chapman. But having trespassed out of the road, 
we will now return to it by the narrow way that leads down 
the Rectory hill into the village. The Church, however, is 
left behind in the windings of the way hither. M c - Adam 
has not yet been called upon to curtail distances, by carving 
new ways across the fields, to correct the circumlocutions 
of our forefathers ; or they are held sacred to commemorate 
the valorous feats of old, when the Dane and the Saxon 
struggled for the soil. Eight hundred years have gone by 
since Canute and Ironside contended for the day, and when 
many English nobles fell for their beloved country, in the 
fierce and heated battle that is said to have come to its 
terrible close in this quiet village. 

There is but little now to awaken peculiar attention in 
Ashdon. It has its hills and dells — its water -courses and 
umbrageous retreats ; and there are farms and places which 
were to us very pleasant spots in early life. Among these 
is Walton's, on the eastern side of the road to Bartlow, long 
occupied by Mr. Wright, the London banker, whose pain- 
ful reverses, whatever his denomination, we most truly 
regret. How different the quiet he here enjoyed to the 
tumultuous scenes of city fife ! Well may the man of busi- 
ness seek refreshment from its turmoils in " the calm retreat 
and silent shade, where nature loves to dwell." 

A mile further, and we will glance at the Bartlow Hills, 
and close our sketch. They are celebrated ; for, from the 
road-side, they are striking hills, or tumuli, surmounted 



ASHDON. 23 

each by a tree or two. The plough has searched every one 
to its very base, sparing not an inch ; and sage antiquaries, 
more remorseless than the farmer, have dug deep into their 
most sacred recesses. Whether Roman or Danish stayed 
not the despoiler's hand, but rather urged it on : so that 
whether it be the admirable Thebes, — the Necropolis of 
Memphis, — or the Bartlow Hills, — all alike are subject to the 
prying inquisitiveness of modern days, while their origin is 
sufficiently indistinct to leave their precise construction 
among the inexplicable secrets for ever enveloped in the 
night of time. 

We might continue our route to Haverhill, or return by 
Linton : but we will prefer crossing the fields to Thick- 
er and the Brick-kiln. At times we trace the gentle 
stream, where, under the hollow bank, an occasional trout 
has rewarded the judicious fisherman. Leaving Rickett's 
on the left, we -pass near to Ashdon-street Farm, and by 
Puddlewort, where the Bowtells lived, a name long known 
in this locality. Each has its associations — next-of-kin re- 
membrances ; and while some are tomb-stones to the past, 
others are living, healthful shoots, growing up into full lux- 
uriance, such as the mind likes to cherish, or to fashion 
into future pleasures, if life be spared. Ah ! thus it is — we 
go on weaving and weaving, till our heavenly Father gives 
the word, and the shuttle stops, and both writer and reader 
go to their long home. Happy they who see by faith a 
bright futurity ! — this throws a lovely character around 
every view, whether in town or country ; and while we err 
not in indulging every consistent enjoyment, we have an 
unfailing interest in those natural beauties by which we 
are surrounded, and inherit with them a charm which no- 
thing can destroy. 



24 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 



No. 5.— N EWPOET 



Let us vary our track, and on this occasion move west- 
ward ; but instead of entering immediately upon the hard 
and public road, we will take a sweeter, yet as public a way, 
through Audley End Park. When we were here last, in 
order to pen our earliest sketch, the season was not so far 
advanced, but the oaks and the ash too have now become 
leaved, so that the landscape is every way attractive, while 
the grass is ready for the mower's arm. There, beyond the 
iron fencing, is seen the Temple of Concord, erected 1792, 
by the late Lord Howard de Walden; and near to it, though 
not in view from the public path, is the urn beneath the som- 
brous yew, on the pedestal of which is the affecting inscrip- 
tion, in which Lady Howard spoke her widowed heart ere 
she left Audley End for the last time. These are memorials 
which shew the graces of the female mind, as written with 
a deeply and unerring graving-tool, securing for amiable 
cultivated woman, a place, — a rank in human affections of 
the highest and most enviable renown. 

The icehouse is to the right, hidden by the plantation, 
which extends to the wall on the left side of the gateway, 
where we enter upon the Audley End road. We recollect 
the outlet, some distance below, with its gate suspended 




OoD 



NEWPORT. 25 

from the arch above, by no means so accommodating, either 
to ladies or other pedestrians, as the well-constructed iron 
gate by the icehouse lodge. This lodge was built by the 
present noble owner of Audley End, who has shown his 
taste in several constructions of this class at various points ; 
but there is not one, we think, more pleasantly situated 
than this. 

The hamlet of Audley End is now but a single street, 
having a school-house at the north corner, and the farm 
and alms-house at the other extremity, beyond the water- 
course. 

On the right of the road is the principal entrance to the 
mansion, with the date 1616 (this gateway was restored in 
1786), and a regal lion on the summit — the crest of the 
Howards. A few remarks may here, we think, be properly 
introduced with reference to this noble house. William 
the Conqueror granted the property to one of the bravest 
of his followers, Geoffrey de Mandeville; and in 1136, the 
latter founded a priory here for Benedictine monks. In 
1190 it was converted into an abbey, but of the abbey all 
traces appear to have been long obliterated. Henry VIII. 
rewarded those who served his purposes, as William had 
done before him; and in 1538, Sir Thomas Audley, who 
was then created Lord Audley of Walden, in addition to 
other portions which belonged to religious houses in Essex, 
received the rich Abbey of Walden, with " all the estates, 
manors, and advowsons thereunto attached." Lord Audley is 
said to have converted the abbey into his country residence ; 
but Lord Braybrooke states that he has met no confirma- 
tion of this fact. In the King's grant, dated the 12th of 
January, the 31st year of his reign, o£ manors, mill, &c, 
bestowed upon him for ever, by the service of half a knight's 
fee only, reference is made to the " scyte of the manor of 



26 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

Walden, in the county of Essex, with the Great Halle/' &c. &c. 
(Grafton mentions, by the bye, that in 1524, King Henry 
was like to have been drowned by leaping over a ditch in 
following his hawk : had he indeed ended his life then, and 
thus ingloriously, what an influence it might have had over 
subsequent events !) To shew that Lord Audley desired to 
build up, we may here refer to his obtaining a grant in 
1542 of the college in Cambridge, now named St. Mary 
Magdelen College, which he endowed, and the mastership 
of which is in the gift of the possessor of Audley End. 
Grafton says — " The Lord Audley, after the monkes were 
chased, erected Magdalen Colledge, in Cambridge; this house 
of monkes before time was called Buckingham Colledge." 
A descriptive account of Cambridge states that the college 
now occupies a portion of the site of an ancient priory, which 
was purchased by the associated monks of Ely, Ramsay, 
and Walden, — that in the reign of Henry VIII, they dis- 
posed of their possessions to Edward Strafford, Duke of 
Buckingham, who erected part of the present fabric, and 
intended to have endowed it, but that being soon afterwards, 
through the artifices of Wolsey, condemned to the scaffold, 
his design was frustrated, and his possessions reverted to 
the Crown. But to return to Audley End. Lord Audley's 
widow "was entitled to have and to enjoy his chief and 
capital mansion at Walden, with the park adjoining," &c. : 
he died 1544, "upon May even;" and in 1557 his daughter 
Margaret married, secondly (her first husband was Henry, 
fourth son of John Dudley, Earl of Northumberland), 
Thomas Howard, fourth Duke of Norfolk, and eldest son 
of the celebrated Henry, Earl of Surrey, executed the 2nd 
of June, 1572, which Earl of Surrey was beheaded at the 
same place twenty -five years before, nine days after which 
event King Henry himself died. It was the Duke's son, 



NEWPORT. 27 

Lord Thomas Howard, who reared the splendid mansion of 
Audley End, at a cost of £1 90,000, a large sum indeed in 
those days (1603-16). He was created Baron Howard of 
Walden, and afterwards, by James I. Earl of Suffolk. He 
held the office of Lord High Treasurer of England ; and, as 
Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, in 1614-15, 
when the King was there, he kept a magnificent table at 
St. John's College, which occasioned an expenditure of 
£1,000 a day. His death occurred at Charing Cross, May 
28th, 1626; but he was buried at Walden. The mansion 
and property have undergone many changes since then; 
but to Sir John Griffin, Lord Howard de Walden, and the 
present noble owner, we may attribute the state in which 
"Audley End" now appears among the ornamental features 
of this important county. 

Lord Howard — we well remember his funeral — died May 
25th, 1797, and was buried at Walden. To a boy of that 
period, the day was a red-letter day — it was a holiday — a 
gay-day ; all the world seemed to be there : the hearse 
dressed out with escutcheons — the tenantry prancing about, 
albeit unused to such splendid ceremonies — and a long, 
very long procession, was all highly calculated to impress the 
minds of those who stood like us to gaze. But his lordship 
was no common man ; and we are now oftentimes reminded 
that he thought of the poor by the means he adopted to 
clothe so many from year to year. Many an aged man 
and woman have been, and are still, warmed by his bounty, 
though he has now been dead near fifty years. 

But we will look at the bridge he built over the Cam for 
the use of the public, and then take our leave, for this 
time, of Audley End. It is of three arches, and has a 
pleasing effect, see it from whatever point you may. A part 
of it was beaten down in 1813 by a team belonging to the 
late Mr. Davis, of Radwinter, when three horses were thrown 



28 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

into the river, but were rescued without sustaining any in- 
jury. On the north side of the lawn, which expands down 
to the Cam, is the site of Lord Howard's Elysium Garden. 
It was rather confined, and surrounded with tall trees, and 
doubtless was not well suited for the general cultivation of 
flowers; but it was a sweet place, with a soft sod, and a 
musical waterfall, and seemed to our sombre fancy a charm- 
ing retreat with a book or a friend. 

The stables to the left of this garden — with 170 feet of 
frontage, as Mr. Robins might say — have lately been com- 
pletely renovated by the noble owner. They look like an 
old friend with a very clean face. It is mentioned by Lord 
Braybrooke that they existed with the monastery, and are 
supposed to have been the hostel for lodging strangers. 

In front of the house, westward, across the London road, 
is the Circular-temple, also built by Lord Howard, on the 
site of the old Hunting-tower, on Ring-hill, " a great Ro- 
man encampment," according to Stukely. It is a place for 
stirring associations : we know not how many might be 
awakened could we dream over the past ; but in its present 
occupancy, with its adjoining aviary, rich in various birds, 
it is a pleasant subject for a visit, and affords also a highly 
interesting prospect. 

From this object we turn southward. On the right we 
shortly pass the road to Littlebury Green, by the War- 
ren-ring, and see the brick-field and extensive plantations; 
while on the left side, the park bounds extend a greater 
distance, till terminated by the capacious lodge, built seve- 
ral rods within the gate, as designed by Rickman. It is 
a mansion of a lodge, compared with the dog-kennel appur- 
tenances we have seen, as blots or patches, on some domains. 

Further on is Wenden Ambo : a rising road to it prevents 
the principal portion of this goodly village from being view- 
ed by the traveller, unless he turn out of his way to partake 



NEWPORT. 29 

of its hospitality. Down the fields, on the eastern side, is 
the water-mill — Salmon's Mill — and so it has been for 
many years. Young salmon there are now, but not in the 
stream ; yet we know, from agreeable experience, that eels 
are there also ; and we heartily desire that the salmon may 
thrive, however long and however cloudy the orations may 
be in elucidation of corn-laws, and the mystifying influ- 
ence of popular suggestions and suppositions. 

Passing Mr. Scott's agreeable abode — Myrtle-hill, we 
presume — we descend towards " Cocks in the Hole/' Myr- 
tle-hill is much altered since Mr. Ivory presided over it, in 
Lord Howard's time. Its present presiding genius is a 
lover of horticulture, a gentleman of judgment as well as 
taste, as his neighbours have ample cause to attest from the 
fine productions of his grapery. 

Crossing the stream, at Sparrow End — the gentle stream 
that assists in feeding the wheels of the mill — we see 
corn-fields on the right, and Wenden wind-mill elevated 
considerably above its meek associate in the meadows. On 
the left we pass the hilly road to Walden, which bounds to 
the north the domain of Shortgrove. This belonged to the 
late Joseph Smith, Esq., an able man, and long associated 
with Mr. Pitt, Prime Minister of England, in very critical 
times. His eldest son, William Charles Smith, Esq., now 
inherits the property, and long may he enjoy it. The house 
is commodious, contains some very valuable paintings (se- 
veral of which have very kindly been lent for exhibition at the 
Walden Museum), has behind it extensive gardens and suit- 
able buildings, while in front an expansive lawn stretches 
down to the river Cam, where also, as viewed from the road, 
cedars and other ornamental trees give an interest to a 
place which cannot but be admired. 

Those who have seen Shortgrove — whether Newmarket 
travellers or other wayfaring people — must also, we think, 



30 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

have noticed a very large stone that is on the foot-path, as 
we enter Newport by Mr. Gayford's farm. It is much too 
large for a mile-stone, and never was hewn out, it would 
seem, of any quarry, except that of nature's own, because 
it has no decided form that art might have given it. The 
bespattering effects of time may have smoothed its sharp 
angles and discrepancies, if such it ever had ; but who pla- 
ced it there, or why, we will not determine; yet fabulous 
chronology determines that, in olden days, it would have 
served for a seat, a luxurious seat, to the way-worn and 
weary ; whereas it is now so elevated, as to be rather mon- 
umental of the past, than of any seeming use to the gener- 
ations to come. Yet there it will abide, we doubt not, 
unless railway acts — very sweeping acts, indeed — (project- 
ors of railroads, with the whole corps of engineers to boot, 
have not a scintillation of mercy in their componency for 
ancient land marks or border beauties) bear it away to that 
land of forgetfulness where difficulties and obstructions are 
alike unknown. 

Next we pass the " Coach-and-Horses " — a well-known 
house of call — in years of old ; but its days for coachmen 
are now decidedly numbered — its sign may still be as it is, 
unless prudence should alter it to the Fiery Dragon, or the 
Vulcan Steamer, in compliment to the expected railway ; 
but the dashing team, and the smart-built mail of Palmer 
origin — the palmy days of road renown — will soon be over. 
But thus it is — the host and guest alike are brought to feel 
that travelling is by no means " as it were, " and contem- 
plation — the deepest and most profound, cannot insinuate 
what great England, the land we dearly love, will come to 
next. 

Newport, the extent of our ramble on this occasion, fur- 
nishes no peculiar attraction at present ; at any rate, not 
to travellers like ourselves. We say at present, since for- 



NEWPORT. 31 

merly it was a market town; but Geoffrey de Mandeville, 
first Earl of Essex, obtained license to remove the market 
to Walden. Lord Braybrooke, in his history, records that 
in 1392, the time of Richard II., the King's Commissioner 
sat in Walden, to enquire after rents and other regal dues, 
and found — That every brewer should pay for every quarter 
of malt brewed to sell, one farthing ; that every man should 
pay the like for every quarter of malt bought or sold ; that 
every man who kept market, or opened a shop window, 
should also pay a farthing ; and that all brewers and bakers 
must have their corn ground at the King's Mill, or submit 
to other impositions. This induced chapmen to forsake the 
town, "And then began the market at Newport, to the 
detriment of Walden. " The market, however, no longer 
exists at Newport ; but whether the place shall revive, and 
rise like a phoenix from the ashes of past times, or ashes to 
come, time alone must develope. 

We will now return by Sparrow End, where we cross the 
sturdy but humble bridge which spans the progressing Cam, 
in its course by the mill, and pass along by the wall newly- 
made by Mr. Smith, to bound this side of his park. It is 
in Newport parish, till we reach nearly the summit of rather 
a long hill for unpretending Essex. We have been in 
Devon and Wales, and met in both counties with hills 
much more awful, as the vallies are unquestionably more 
profound; but, reaching the top, we perceive that the men 
of Walden have been cutting improvements and breaking 
down difficulties, where, in more tumultuous times, their 
fathers liked to make them. We are now on Gallow-hill ; 
it was, therefore, an eminent place in former reigns; 
(Gallow-field, by the bye, is mentioned in a feoffment of 
the 29th of Henry VI.) and in the Corporation Records are 
the following entries : — 



32 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

1597. The carpenter for setting up the gallowes, 3s. 

To Groutt, of Wimbish, for tymber for the gal- 
lowes, 3s. 8d. 
Payed to Stanmer for two halters, 4d. 

1631. Paid for timber and making the gallowes, 4s. 4d. 

The town-records shew also that Walden was, at one 
time or other, duly provided with all that was needful for 
offenders against good order and the laws; for in 1551 
(Edward VI.) the pillory cost 3s. 4d. ; and in 1552 (the 
merciful days of his sister Mary) 6s. 8d. was paid for " ma- 
king the cucking stoole;" as in 1613 (James I.) the large 
sum of £1. 9s. 3d. was "paide for setting up the cooking 
stole " — woeful hour to some poor scold ! But here we 
must aver that we live in happier times — there is a manifest 
change — the days of roasting and boiling human beings 
(look at Henry VIIFs reign for many instances) are hap- 
pily gone by ; and although bigotry may deal out its illib- 
eral attacks on the helpless and the solitary in confined 
situations, nothing on a large scale can safely be attempted: 
while also the current of public opinion flows decidedly 
against such capital punishments, as interfere with the 
ethereal and immortal spirit, which feeble man cannot 
give, and which nothing short of dire necessity should in- 
duce man to take means to separate from his unworthy 
fellows. 

He-entering the town in this direction, not one in a 
hundred thinks of the way by which he came. The ce- 
lebrity of other times that occasioned its appellative, is now 
merely a matter of history : and grateful indeed ought we to 
be to that sustaining and overlooking Providence, through 
which we enjoy the sterling benefits of public and social 
order in a high degree. 

June, 1843. 



THAXTED. 33 



No. 6.-THAXTED. 



We purpose going southward on this occasion, but we 
must cross the Common to do so. In our progress to the 
south-east corner, we pass the maze which was lately recut, 
and the embankment around it repaired ; but, being open 
to the public, it is much frequented by the young, so that 
the lines and circles are not so well preserved as might be 
wished. 

Crossing Foul-slough bridge — what a memento this is of 
a slough of other days ! — we leave the Sewer's End road on 
our left, — and then the instructive finger-post, where we 
enter upon the way to Thaxted. The Gas-works are here 
situated, — certainly at a considerable distance from the 
principal streets of the town ; but it was the most eligible 
and desirable site that could be obtained when the Gas 
Company commenced their operations; and we are now 
brought to admit that gas, like steam, will find its way in 
every direction. 

This addition to the local scenery was, it is certain, not 
included in the vocabulary of the learned and able Sir 
Thomas Smyth, who spoke of Walden as "a town sur- 
rounded by fields smiling with pleasant saffron." The 
writer of ' ' Excursions through Essex " speaks of it as " a 
valley, beautifully embosomed with hills." The hills are 
still smiling, but not with saffron; and the valley is 



34 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

beautiful — from cultivation; while the towering chimney 
by the gasometer, though it sometimes ejects an unprofit- 
able volume, shews too that the town is benefited by the 
light of the age, and is illuminated in the season most re- 
quiring it, with a brilliance as pleasant as that of saffron. 

Further on, upon the eastern side of the road, is the lime- 
kiln. In our boyhood, it was fairly entitled to this distin- 
guishing appellation; and of that, and that only, did we 
hear that some wayfaring men had ventured to it for 
warmth, and become painful spectacles of lost and wretch- 
ed humanity. Now, however from extending business, and 
more active competition, there are several kilns, sufficient 
to meet any probable demand for lime, where there is so 
abundant a supply of the staple chalk. 

Passing the range of neat white cottages, built by Mr. 
William Ward, we soon come to the road leading up to 
Sheer -hill. It is the direction for a pleasant retired walk, 
and whence we can enjoy some interesting views, while the 
town is seen also in a very favourable position. The road 
needs to be widened by act of parliament to be a sociable 
road ; at present it just serves for a cart or a friend. 

A quarter of a mile further on, we come to the lane lead- 
ing, westward, to the mills, a fair road in fair weather, but 
one always interesting to us from the allotments for cotta- 
gers in the fields on either hand. A part of Railey-field 
was very early devoted by Messrs. Gibson to this laudable 
object. The land is excellent, as well as that on the oppo- 
site side of the lane, which, belonging to one of the public 
charities, is well appropriated, in a double sense, to the 
benefit of the poor. 

Half a mile further we reach a well-known nooking in 
the Thaxted road. Ask where you are, and you will be 
told it is " Ben Hull's Grave." Here was the burial place 



THAXTED. 35 

of the unhappy suicide : here was the scene of a night-drama, 
painful everyway in retrospection : here was the unceremo- 
nious entombment, attended by the appalling stake, driven 
through the wretched remains of one so lately the tenement 
of an immortal — a never-dying spirit. The mind revolts at 
the needless desecration of the chalice which so recently 
contained such an ethereal essence : and we may now re- 
joice at the progress of intelligence which places at a dis- 
count all needless harrowing of the feelings of the living, in 
order to punish, as it were, the unfeeling dead. The same 
progress of intelligence, in combination with truth, happily 
conveys to mankind in general that there is more real 
heroism in bearing the ills we have, than flying unbidden 
into the presence of Him who scans every motive, and 
knows the honest groundwork of every resolution. The 
poor maniac is to be pitied, while the cold-blooded suicide 
accumulates upon his head the consequences of aggravated 
guilt. 

On the opposite side of the road is the homestead on 
Lord Braybrooke's estate, held by an active sensible man, 
Mr. Matthew Winder. We were there, a few years since, 
with many of our townVpeople, when an accidental fire oc- 
casioned the destruction of the out-buildings. Melancholy 
as the raging element appears in its devastating effects, it 
is a consolation to human nature to see the brotherly feel- 
ing displayed in this neighbourhood when such a calamity 
occurs. Oh ! it blots out many trifles whenever the tocsin of 
alarm, the hasty bell, calls forth the energies of willing 
labourers in assisting the distressed, at a time when help is 
so greatly needed. 

Still ascending — for we must of necessity get out of 
the valley before we can extend our ramble — we pass 
Gunter's farm, on the right; and farther on Thunderly 



36 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

Hall, pleasantly situated at a distance from the road, and 
occupied by Mr. Winder before-mentioned. We are now 
in the parish of Wimbish • but till the 1 5th century Thun- 
derly was a distinct parish. On the right also is PeverelFs 
— PeverelPs wood. The lover of the chace merely says 
PeverelPs, or Kowney. Rowney wood is further on. Many 
stirring circumstances are, doubtless, associated with both 
these properties ; but, like the unwritten law, they are not 
in print. William Peverell, who possessed the Debden 
Hall estate in the 12th century, is stated to have been 
obliged to fly the realm, about 1153, in consequence of his 
being charged with poisoning Ranulph, Earl of Chester: 
two years after this, his estates were seized by Henry II. 

At Pinkney's we come to the cross-road from Newport 
to Wimbish Green, a pleasant drive ; and one mile further 
we see the Elms, held by Mr. Robert Franklin, a farm 
forming part of the estates which support that noble insti- 
tution in Saffron Walden for aged householders, King Ed- 
ward's Almshouse — Edward VI. — restored and improved in 
the reign of that youthful monarch, through the instrument- 
ality of Sir Thomas Smyth. It is pleasant to associate 
with the scenery around, the characters which adorned 
society in centuries gone by, and who will be gratefully 
remembered while such institutions continue to endure. 

Two miles beyond, we reach Thaxted, the terminus of 
our sketch. A native would refer to Pipples and Broad- 
oaks — Higham's and Goddard's — but further than this, this 
deponent saith not — there may be found at one or more a 
welcome worthy of a yeoman's board. We may remark of 
Broadoaks, that Aurelius Piercy Wiseman, the last of the 
name of that place, and head and chief of that right wor- 
shipful family (so says an inscription in Wimbish Church), 
was killed in a duel in the flower of his age, 1680. 



THAXTED. 37 

Thaxted is seated on the river Chelmer, near its source ; 
the stream, therefore, waters no trifling portion of goodly 
Essex. The Church, "long and beautiful," is a commanding 
structure, as we enter the place in this direction. It seems 
to us to be too closely surrounded, like very many of our 
ecclesiastical buildings, to be seen, as it deserves to be, with 
adequate admiration. Erected at the cost of several noble 
persons in the 14th century, a king — Edward IV. — is said 
to have completed the chancel. Thaxted was, therefore, a 
favoured spot in former days; and history, likewise, sets 
forth, that in those of Philip and Mary, it was incorpora- 
ted, under the names of the Mayor, Bailiffs, and common- 
ality. Its corporate honours were confirmed by Queen 
Elizabeth, and an addition thereto was made by James I. ; 
but for sufficient reasons, doubtless, the Charter, it is said, 
was allowed to die a natural death in the time of the second 
James. His brief period of sovereign rule was also distin- 
guished by a mandamus requiring the corporation of Saffron 
Walden to choose Bichard Reynolds for Mayor, who has 
left on record the following entry : — "January 23, 1687-8. 
Spent at the Rose & Crown, when the King's messenger 
came down with the mandamus, and I was chosen Mayor, 
01. 00. 00." King James was therefore a troubler of corpo- 
rations as well as the church ; yet corporate bodies, in all 
their occasional difficulties, appear but seldom to have neg- 
lected those necessary refections so essential to our common 
nature, whether we be decked or not in the honours of the 
age. Every rightly constituted mind — all judicious students 
in history — will appreciate the value of character among 
cotemporaries, and the maintenance of social order : no 
one who is not mischievous would set one portion of society 
against another — exalting the poor at the expense of the 
more elevated, or humbling the poor to please the mighty. 



38 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

We therefore commend what we may deem a commendable 
support of honourable degrees in the public system, consid- 
ering them the fair reward of public merit ; but we laud 
still more those elevating distinctions which are assured 
to the good man who aims at the unfading honours of 
eternal life. We trust and believe that the once corporate 
town of Thaxted is not deficient in such characters, and we 
truly wish them the incorporeal rewards of a world to come. 
But here we must leave them, considering that while some 
are anxious about the races of a day, there is a race in which 
the successful competitor, who endures to the end, receives 
a crown which shall never fade, and shall enjoy a home 
eternal as the skies. 



July, 1843. 




'/J 



Oofl 

3 



LITTLEBURY. 39 



No. 7-LITTLEBURY 



A walk to Littlebury is, from its moderate distance and 
other circumstances, a very agreeable one. The valetudi- 
narian in his progressions after health may attempt this by 
degrees: he may ascend the hill — Windmill-hill, — by which 
we are conducted to it, as the state of his chest, and his 
general case may warrant -, and if he once reach the sum- 
mit, we natter ourselves he will soon thereafter be able to 
master the other little eminences which occur on the road 
to this interesting village. 

We leave the town by Bridge-end. This implies a hollow 
— that where the watercourse denominated the Slade — 
Madgate Slade — passes from the grounds of Mr. Francis 
Gibson, in its way through Audley End Park. It is much 
improved since 1795, when we recollect the town was here 
inundated ; part of the Park wall was then broken away, 
and the residents thereabouts were greatly disturbed by the 
unexpected and unwelcome flood. It was a busy time for 
an inland place, where boats and rafts are but little under- 
stood. The slade is now covered over in the vicinity of the 
road, which has effected a great improvement in this locality, 
so well remembered from our earliest years. 

On the west-side we pass one of Lord Braybrooke's new 
Lodges, at the corner of the Deer Park ; and on the east, 
the allotments in Turner's Charity Fields. The town is 



40 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

surrounded indeed with smiling features — there is no waste 
to be entered upon from any quarter : for none can say the 
Common is waste ground, when they look at Mr. Webb's 
flock browsing upon it in the day-time, or, while in the 
evening hour, as well as at other seasons, some ten or twelve 
parties are distributed over it, at their respective games, 
principally cricket — as if it were peopled with bipeds of 
every age. The married and the single are there, — till 
the dusk of eve, when they pass off in crowds, and the 
Common is depopulated as if by magic. 

But approaching the hill, we first perceive that the as- 
cent is very gradual. It was not always so. It was not 
thus when the Corporation mill stood upon it, as doubtless 
it did. By the bye, that mill was leased by the Corporation, 
in the reign of the second James, for £4*. 13s. 4d. But 
the mill is no more, nor the awkward road which went up 
to it. Those were bad days for loaded teams ; and we re- 
member it was a matter of awe as they descended almost 
unrestrainable, till they reached the town. Now, thanks 
to the men of the present generation, and some who are 
gone to their rest, the road is a Newmarket-road, and the 
hill, though a high one for a locality like this, is as easily 
ascendable as the most fastidious could desire. 

The Park wall commences at Bridge End, and is conti- 
nued to the turn of the road beyond Windmill-hill, and 
then on to North End. Straightforward is the way to 
Stump-cross, and Cambridgeshire; and down in the low 
grounds on the left, where the Cam wends its way among 
the fields, is a part long frequented as a bathing place. A 
few years since, a young man, deaf and dumb, and well 
known for his peculiarities, came there to a premature end. 
Doubtless he struggled ; but his inarticulate cries must have 
died away unheeded upon the floating breeze. 



LITTLEBURY. 41 

North End is but a cluster of cottages : and hard by, on 
the south- side of the road, is the kennel, belonging to Aud- 
ley End mansion. Though not an imposing structure, the 
history of many a good dog may have been written within 
its walls, while the sturdy gamekeeper has here had his 
domicile, whose name and renown were long associated with 
the rural hamlet of North End. 

A short distance further, and we approach the fair and 
goodly stream, which, on the left, coquettes with the wheel 
of the mill, now occupied by Mr. Bewsher, and on the right 
winds along, with meandering fickleness, till it waters rec- 
tories and universities : oftentimes it sports itself among 
fertile meadows — then amuses itself at a mill-dam — and 
anon, rushes along till in playfulness it unites itself with 
that Ouse — one among several of the like name — which 
flows by the venerable and productive city of Ely. Mr. 
Bewsher is well- known in a wide district, for his services as 
secretary of the Saffron Walden Agricultural Society ; and 
we sincerely wish that he may long enjoy his well-acquired 
celebrity in district and other meetings in connexion with 
that useful and benevolent institution. 

But the stream here is peculiar ; it is markedly the same 
as in our boyhood. There is the footbridge, with board 
after board to pass over it, and there are the identical small 
fry — they must surely be the same that were frisking 
about, say fifty years ago — when, with the small vision of 
childhood, we calculated upon the best means of bottling 
some for home consumption. The quiet waters — for neither 
animal nor wain is now passing through it — have the same 
placid lineaments which we so much admired in early life, 
when we looked through the rail (not over it) in order to 
consider the transparent element which flowed below, ex- 
hibiting the fractured crockery, the stickleback, and the 



42 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

loitering flag, as clear and legible as light could make them. 
How different the mighty surges where the Eddy stone is ! 
The builder of the first lighthouse on that insulated rock — 
Mr. Henry Winstanley — lived at Littlebury. This beacon 
was constructed by him of wood in 1696 ; and although it 
had resisted many violent storms, yet in 1703, it was blown 
down, and Mr. Winstanley, who was then repairing it, and 
all his attendants perished with it. Mrs. Winstanley was 
at Littlebury, it is said, at the time ; and while the storm 
raged — for it agitated this part of Essex — her hopes of her 
husband's safety rested materially on a model of the light- 
house, which he had put up in his garden. From his known 
opinion of its stability she had unshaken confidence, while 
this model remained in its position : at length, however, to 
her dismay, it quailed before the storm, fell, and never again 
did she see its sanguine inventor, but the news shortly came 
that proclaimed her a widow, by the awful termination of 
such commendable ingenuity and perseverance to aid the 
tempest-tost sailor. Mr. Winstanley was famous for his 
waterworks, full of whimsical contrivances. He published, 
as stated by Lord Braybrooke in his History of Audley 
End, a list of the plans, elevations, and prospects of that 
noble structure, and dedicated it to King James II., de- 
scribing himself as " Clarke of the works of the said Pallace, 
and that at Newmarket." A Mr. Henry Winstanley ap- 
pears to have been one of the establishment at Audley End 
in 1665 ; and a Robert Winstanley is said to have written 
a poetical account of a part of Essex, entitled "Poor Robin's 
Perambulation from Saffron Walden to London," perform- 
ed in July, 1687, and published the same year. These 
parties were probably related to the builder of the Light- 
house. By the bye, we have lately discovered that Little- 
bury Green, part of this parish, has had a poet. In 1753, 



LITTLEBURY. 43 

James Webb, of that hamlet, published "Poems on several 
occasions. " His themes were of a religious order ; but we 
have not heard that they awakened much regard. 

Leaving the village, we proceed along the Cambridge 
road, and pass one of Lord Braybrooke's farms, where lived 
the father of Mr. John Clayden, the present occupant — 
as comely and as generous a British yeoman as is seen in 
many a day. We next come to Bourdeux or Bourdeaux — 
named, perhaps, as streets and mansions are now called 
after some distinguished man or scene of recent times — from 
that city of France where the heroic Black Prince of Eng- 
land held his court after the battle of Poictiers. Few that 
indulge in a glass of claret, over one of which this manor 
and property may have been named, but know that the 
vicinage of Bourdeaux produces the finest wines of this de- 
scription. The country hereabouts is not a wine-growing 
district, but it is exceedingly pleasant, and having asserted 
so much we may perhaps be excused a farther reference to 
continental Bourdeaux, which at the season of the vintage 
forms one of the most delicious landscapes in the world. 
The time of Edward III. was a stirring sera; and any 
Englishman living at Bourdeaux may feel a natural affinity 
and a proud interest in the Prince, whose exalted character 
and uninterrupted series of good fortune, and whose victo- 
ries, modesty, affability, and munificence, drew stangers to 
his then city from every part of Europe. 

Little Chesterford now scarcely invites any one down its 
single street; but its manor formerly belonged to Queen 
Edeva, and its Church marks the resting-place of the lords 
of the village four centuries ago. The effigy of a Walsing- 
ham is there with accompaniments that cannot be mistaken. 
While the tombs of the great and mighty of former ages, 
as well as full-grown cities, have all been swept away, indi- 



44 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

eating the fate of all similar constructions, it still seems 
natural to mankind to erect memorials to departed kin; 
but after a few short years, with some favourite exceptions, 
consecrated to a more enduring remembrance through tal- 
ents rightly applied, or benevolence of a pure and holy 
character, the eye of the living roams over the burial-place 
of even recent generations with an inconceivable vacancy, 
yet with a right appreciation of the vanity of human life. 
This is the moral of the proudest history ; and we think it is 
fully confirmed in this vicinity, as we proceed to the site of 
the old Roman station in the adjoining parish, Great Ches- 
terford. It once covered a space of at least fifty acres — 
but the plough has gone over it, and only occasional memo- 
rials are found of the hardy and busy people who then were 
masters of the soil. They were no common persons in their 
time, as is proved by the various instruments and utensils 
left upon this site : but while history — and clear and indis- 
putable records — tell us of their mighty and extended career, 
humbling indeed it seems to human ambition to know, since 
their decline, how much has been obliterated — their very 
dust dispersed to the winds of heaven, — and that busy 
conjecture cannot tell whether this was the Canvoritum 
or the Iciani of Imperial Rome. 

Entering Chesterford village, (it is described as formerly 
a market-town, a great town and populous) we pass on the 
right the winding Cam, with the mill upon it belonging to 
Mr. Sampson. As the river has not changed, it doubtless 
worked the mill of ancient times, when Maud, Lady Marsh- 
aless of England, Countess of Norfolk and Warren, gave 
forty shillings yearly, issuing out of her mill at this place, 
to the nuns of St. George at Thetford, to buy them clothes, 
half-linen, half-woollen. 

A short distance further, and close upon the old Roman 



LITTLEBURY. 45 

road, is the Crown Inn, belonging to Mr. Edwards, and 
now far better known for its excellent accommodations, 
than the savory cuisine of Roman life. The utility of these 
establishments in former days, to such as could appreciate 
the comforts they afforded, must have been very apparent : 
that they are still so, in an eminent degree, need not be 
asserted, and particularly when they are found at suitable 
distances on a road like that of Newmarket — the racing 
ground of some, who, imitating Heliogabalus of old, have 
not cared how much they expended upon a single supper. 
But railroads have altered the whole complexion of inns by 
the roadside — the most eminent are thrown out of date in 
certain situations ; but the judicious and consistent man- 
agement of the Crown, cannot fail to recommend it to those 
classes who are led in their migrations to seek the agreeable 
welcome which it is so calculated to give. 

This village is pleasantly situated, and has an open pros- 
pect into Cambridgeshire. Being of the ancient demesne 
of the crown, it once enjoyed numerous important privileges, 
as may be seen in the Charter of King Charles I. dated 1634, 
preserved, we are told, in the Church chest. Neither Roman 
power nor royal charter, has, however, succeeded in main- 
taining in Chesterford parish, the greatness and the popu- 
lousness of former times. The working bees of England 
congregate now where their hives are most productive, and 
they carry with them the renown and the consequence 
which of old were derived from arbitrary enactments and 
compulsory laws. Trade and commerce have grown out 
of size for any old garments to fit them, so that new vest- 
ments and better measures are continually needed to suit 
the gigantic proportions of cities and towns which are now, 
as it were, born in a day. 

A little north of this part, rises the river Stour. We 



46 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

like to think of rivers — constantly flowing rivers — fertilizing 
and accommodating rivers — rivers which have for ages bub- 
bled up here and there, to give water to a multitude : and 
then we think of the beautiful allusion in the sacred volume 
to the pure River of Water of Life. Well may the weary 
pilgrim — the aged meditative pilgrim, weighed down with 
the years of several generations — sigh for that water, when 
these beauteous rivers of this fair earth impart such support 
and such benefits to those who luxuriate among the scenes 
which are freshened and blessed by their perennial and in- 
exhaustible effusions. The Stour — the gentle Stour — has 
a course of fifty miles or more, to part the two friendly 
counties of Essex and Suffolk, and falls into the sea at 
Harwich. It is, therefore, a domestic friend, and may well 
claim a notice with the Granta and the Cam, that keep on 
their momentary course through our own loved locality. 

Going through the village we enter the road from Stump 
Cross, and move southward towards home. It is a quiet, 
peaceable way back ; and after passing the east-end of Lit- 
tle Chesterford, we come to Springwell, belonging to the 
Parish of Walden. The springs hereabouts are said to be 
so near the surface that the water may be obtained by a 
pole and a bowl — they are, in fact, spring-wells. We are 
not again interrupted in our musings till we reach the 
crown of Mill-hill ; then we see the town in the valley — its 
Church — its Museum — and so many other objects, that 
even the constant resident naturally casts his eye over it— 
around — and beyond to its fruitful hills, with affectionate 
admiration. 

The seasons impart their own peculiar interest to every 
ramble : the present may therefore be remarked with all 
its appropriateness, for we cannot but look with delight at 
the fields, now crowned with luxuriant corn. How rich the 



LITTLEBURY. 4/ 

vestment with which the earth is decked on every side ! 
And how happy the birds are where the gun is not seen, 
as they rise or fall, with fluttering wing, into nature's open 
granary ! The valley into which we are descending will 
soon echo with the voice of gladness and the song of praise ; 
for the busy reapers will be fully employed, and every class 
will have an interest in husbanding the grain. Oh ! it 
is a moving sight — a theme for heaven-born poesy, and a 
subject eminently worthy of an Artist's pencil. We have 
seen it thus devoted ; and we rejoice — as from the summit 
of Mill-hill we contemplate the well-occupied vale of Wal- 
den, and the lands above and beyond it — that we have a 
native artist to extend the knowledge of its beauties, and 
to increase the number of our own pleasant household 
friends by faithful and animated representations of the pla- 
ces familiar to us as our very meals, and among which, if it 
so please the great Disposer of all events, we hope to pass 
the remainder of our days. 



August, 1843. 



48 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 



No. 8.-H E M P S T E D . 



Walden Common is admirably situated : its original 
appropriation to its present use was an act teeming with 
wisdom and kindness to future thousands and unborn gen- 
erations ; and while we can tread upon it as very lords of 
the soil, from the privilege we inherit, we feel deeply grate- 
ful to that good man or men who were the honoured means 
of leaving a plot of ground of such dimensions, and of such 
fair proportions, for the comfort, recreation, and health of 
a multitude to come. It was unquestionably an act of pa- 
ternal beneficence, and we rejoice that, among other places, 
Derby has recently witnessed a similar noble appropriation ; 
while the aged and the young may seek air and occupation 
upon an Englishman's freehold, and without, too, any 
charges or drawbacks consequent thereupon. Walden 
Common is, we think, well situated, because it is not a 
nooking in some particular road, but it is the way, — the 
royal highway, — to various places. Indeed there are from 
the four several comers, some six or seven roads, east, west, 
north, and south, — thus conveying to a stranger's mind that 
there must be a pleasant diversity, which way soever he may 
choose to proceed. 

On this occasion, we go to the south-east; and at the 
bridge over the Slade, we pass Chater's floral and horticul- 
tural grounds — much improved, by the bye, and having 



HEMPSTED. 49 

abundance of light thrown into his pleasurable pursuits by 
the demolition of that grove or plantation, originated by- 
Mr. Robinson, sufficiently far back in our domestic history 
to allow of considerable altitude among the rival trees. 
But the whole have fallen under the axe ; and their re- 
moval has given a new appearance to this locality. There 
is more breathing ground, and the flowers acknowledge it 
by their improved character and greater beauty. 

Proceeding eastward, we pass one hobby after another. 
Most of us have a favorite hobby ; but some spur them on 
with more spirit than their neighbours. It is instructive 
to look back and consider how others have digged and 
planted, — how they have builded and contrived to make a 
nest for years to come ; and what an interest they them- 
selves took in it, and how they strove to interest others in 
that which required daily action and nightly thought; but, 
lo ! after a few ■ zodiacal revolutions, or some unexpected 
developement of a new resource, the old hobby has been 
left for another to master, and the favourite staff has been 
transferred altogether to another hand. 

A few fields further on and we come to the Union-house 
for this district. It is a spacious and airy building ; and 
was placed upon a flat, that the several wings might stand 
upon a like level. We truly hope that it may never be 
tenanted as it might be ; but from having a knowledge of 
some of the old Workhouses, and the lax and demoralizing 
system which prevailed in not a few, we are fain to believe, 
from the way in which a union of parishes for the general 
good may be carried on, that very many experience com- 
forts within the house which they could not share so sys- 
tematically and so well under other circumstances. It was 
an early precept for a Christian people — If any would not 
work, neither should he eat ; — but here is provision for all 



50 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

who absolutely need it ; and no one who thinks correctly 
could advocate — while the aged, the invalid, and the helpless, 
have an imperative claim which no sophistry could weaken 
or annul — that the industrious bees in the public hive 
should provide for the drones a lazy or luxurious ease. It 
is an axiom that sin and suffering usually go together; 
but whatever may be the cause — whether demoral and 
unworthy habits, or sharp, biting, unavoidable want, — -chil- 
ling misery unlooked for and thought to be unmerited, — 
still the houseless wanderer finds a hostel in the gloaming 
hour of eve — his bed, a meal, and shelter, where, in olden 
times, he might have perished, neglected and unpitied, be- 
cause he was unknown. Christianity is the mother of insti- 
tutions for suffering humanity, and where Christian-men 
are guardians of the poor, these unions must be beneficial, 
although incapable of meeting every ill to which our flesh 
is heir. 

Pouns-wood is on the left, standing on high ground : its 
hue is changing now with the warmth of harvest hours. 
We here pass the fields belonging to the farm — Pouns-hall. 
Courts were held for the manor of Pounces, up to the 
time of Elizabeth, which belonged at an early period to the 
monastery; for Pouncyns was in the first of Henry IV. 
held of the Abbot of Walden, and was called so, Lord 
Braybrooke considers, after a family of that name mention- 
ed in older writings. The house is a pleasant distance from 
the town — say a mile ; is agreeably and prominently situa- 
ted, and has much to recommend it, although not distin- 
guished by any features connected with halls built in our 
modern days. 

Behind this house, on the summit of the hill, up a wiry, 
narrow, and irregular ascent, not very likely to be improved, 
is another comfortable dwelling, with a garden in front, 



HEMPSTED. 51 

and an accommodating pond by the roadside. It is probably 
the most striking of the few respectable homesteads at 
Sewer's End ; and truly do we wish that it had continued 
in the same possession in which we knew it in our early life, 
when its owner had a ready welcome for a friend, and ap- 
preciated the pleasure of seeing others happy around him. 

We have spoken of the hill, and we record no new com- 
plaint, although we credit the belief that the roads are 
better here than they were in the 15th century, since Geff- 
rey Symond, otherwise Heyreman, of Walden, bequeathed 
eleven acres of land ' c clepyd dreyes," " for amendynge of 
the foule hygh waies in Seward's End, Holy's Lane, and in 
the waye leding to Typtote Ward, whereas most need is, 
by the dwellers in Seward's End for ever, together with 
other good men," &c. Worthy Geffrey, however much he 
and his ambling steed might have suffered about 1481, 
through the roughness of the ways in his time, were he to 
revisit Sewer's End in our days would probably not admit 
that the good men referred to had done all they could, in 
leaving this descent without all the improvement by which, 
in this improving age, the hill might be moderated for the 
benefit, more particularly, of timid equestrians and loaded 
wains. 

Sewer's End is the well-known appellation in these days ; 
in Geffrey's we see it was Seward's, and if we go back to 
the times of Edward the Confessor, it was probably Siward, 
after a Saxon Thane, one of the most intrepid Generals of 
the age, who, being sent into Scotland, 1054, to assist Mal- 
colm, joined his forces under the command of Macduff, 
and in a desperate battle totally defeated Macbeth, who 
was obliged to fly to the mountains for shelter. Siward 
soon after paid the debt of nature, and Tofti succeeded him 
as Earl of Northumberland. We mention the name of 



52 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

Tofti, the brother of King Harold, because of its seeming 
reference to a manor hard by Sewer's End — that of Tiptofts, 
which local histories assert was the name of an ancient and 
honourable family, some of whom became barons of the 
realm, and earls of Worcester. Tofti, however — though 
the brother of a King — was not an honourable man ; for 
he so greatly oppressed the Northumbrians that they ex- 
pelled him the county. Lord Mordaunt, by will, dated 
1571, left this manor to King's Hall and Brasennose Col- 
lege, Oxford. It is now the residence of Mrs. Gay ton. 

Curving it along the road we come to Kibberdey wood, 
said to have been a hanging wood, inasmuch as one of a 
desperate gang of rogues was here suspended in chains, ac- 
cording to the moving practice of a bygone period. What- 
ever influence this spectacle may have had upon the vicious, 
and whether it ever prevented the commission of a single 
crime, which we feel at a loss to aver, it had in one case a 
most moving effect. A worthy old farmer was of so soci- 
able a turn on the market-day, that he was the subject of 
an occasional lecture from his better-half, for staying un- 
reasonably late at night, participating in the gratifications 
of the table, instead of going home in good time, to look 
after his family and his stock. But a memorable change 
took place in him from the time of this unsightly suspension 
at Kibberdey wood ; he not only deserted the market-table 
at a reasonable hour, and moderately charged, we presume, 
with the juice of the grape (farmers, some of them at least, 
drank wine then as well as now) — put spurs into his horse 
as soon as he neared the horrific wood, and galloped on with 
an impetus so remarkable that it is said he never stopped 
again till he reached his home. Well might the "gude 
wife" have exclaimed, with both amazement and delight, 
she truly wished Kibberdey wood had been a real hanging 
wood many years before. 



HEMPSTED. 53 

Leaving Walden parish, we here enter upon Radwinter, 
where we are reminded by many things of old Mr. Carter, 
who increased his property most materially by his dealings 
in " heart of oak '* — England's best bulwark, — when in the 
last long war timber was so much in demand for British 
shipping in every part of the world. We shortly come to 
his late residence on the right, now occupied by Mrs. Car- 
ter, the widow of the gentleman, to whom it descended; 
and truly it is a pleasant dwelling, pleasantly situated, look- 
ing into its garden, gay indeed in summer-time, and always 
interesting ; and, mingled with its other varieties in earth, 
air, and water, having a giant acorn, emblematical of those 
dealings which enabled him to distribute a large property 
among an extensive family connexion, at the close of an 
active and prosperous life. On the left of the road is the 
Parsonage, a handsome modern building, which is truly 
well kept up by the highly-respectable Rector, the Rev. 
John Bullock,* whose family is so identified with this coun- 
ty, that he needs not any remark of ours. The ancient 
Church, dedicated to the Virgin Mary (the simplest and 
truest dedication ever seems to be to the worship of God, 
and God alone), is half a mile further on, near to which is 
Radwinter Hall, the property of the Bullock family, a man- 
sion of a homestead, and, placed at a distance from the road, 
with its pastures and buildings adjoining, is indeed a re- 
spectable abode for the tenant it may claim. The Rev. 
William Harrison, who was Rector of Radwinter from 1558, 
till his death in 1593, is known for his historical writings 
of Britain and Scotland. 

Immediately beyond the Church, the road is crossed by 
another; but we continue our ramble eastward, and descend, 

* This gentleman died on tbe 12th of August, 1844, and was 
succeeded by his son. 



54 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

by a curve, into a valley, at the foot of which is one of the 
sources of Blackwater River — now but a little stream, but 
after heavy rains, deep and expansive, so that, for a time, 
carriages must go in a different direction. Instead of a 
bridge, there is a raised way for walkers and horsemen. 
We have, too, those monitory posts on each side, marked 
by rule, in order to apprise the traveller of the depth of the 
passing current. Another early rivulet of the same river 
we cross half a mile further on, by the Ash farm, but not 
being in so confined a situation, nor fed so liberally as the 
former, it does not aim to alarm the timid, but discharges 
its excess of water with a commendable rapidity that causes 
but little interruption. 

Then commences the hill — say the rising ground — by 
which we approach Hempsted-hill farm, long occupied 
by Mrs. Horner, deceased. To the left runs the bye-way 
to Winchlow Hall (once a moated abode), and the residence 
of the Harvey family. There is a chase still, though in 
ruins, by which the renowned heads of the family, in olden 
days, drawn by the well-fed beasts of burden, were convey- 
ed to the village Church : but the house is gone, scarcely 
leaving a wreck behind, while an occasional portion applied 
to uses, some of which need not be mentioned, may be 
found in the farm- dwellings on the estate, where they ap- 
pear like relics of a greatness that is departed. We have 
had our pleasures in the vicinity. We have strolled by the 
gurgling streamlet, and in the groves, and down the fields 
into the little dell where the pond quietly reposes, over 
which hangs many a rambling branch and thrifty bramble, 
and where we have taken the pleasant gudgeon and other 
inmates of the little lake. We can dwell upon the past 
with peculiar delight, when we think of the first blush of 
sweet morning — odorous morn — when every flower of the 



HEMPSTED. 55 

field was fresh with its own beauty, and every path exhaled 
that agreeable combination of pleasing scents — the breath- 
ings of the mead and the upland, which, like the fragrant 
breath of the cow, indicates and promotes health in every 
vein. We know its effects when we have left the great 
city for the quiet joys of the rural village ; and while new 
life then appeared to be the result, we only contemplate 
scenes we may never see again, with a deeper devotion to 
Him, the great Author of creation and the pervading Spirit 
of all things, which gave in past hours those well-remem- 
bered delights of the purest description, and such as leave 
no sting behind. The striking difference there is between 
a people of high moral feeling, and those whose pursuits 
are of an ignoble and humbling character, are so apparent 
that they need but be mentioned to convey just sentiments 
to the upright mind. The former are as the emanations of 
heavenly light, : — the latter, the murky broodings of the 
worst passions that occupy the human breast, only to in- 
jure the fair and beautiful fabric, by which man was made 
to adorn the sphere in which he is found. 

It is observed, that the present mode of writing the name 
of this village, Hempsted or Hempstead, is that least au- 
thorised by analogy or ancient usage. We think it might 
well be written Elmstead ; for it is the place where the elm 
— the wych elm — so useful to the wheelwright, naturally 
nourishes. Evelyn — judicious Evelyn — commends the tim- 
ber on account of its toughness and long- endurance ; and 
this has made it, we suppose, so desirable for grave pur- 
poses, as the company of undertakers can amply testify. 

Let us, then, go over to the Church-yard — we need not 
point it out, for the Church-tower is so lofty : situated as it 
is upon a hill — a steepish hill — it is everywhere visible, now 
we are in the village-street. This tower commands an 



56 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

extensive view northward, in which Lavenham Church is 
stated to be visible. But passing through the Church, we 
will descend below, where there are two vaults, occupied by 
a numerous assemblage of the Harvey family of different 
periods — many in lead, made according to the human fig- 
ure, and among them — honoured man ! — -the great Dr. 
Harvey, the discoverer of the most important fact in phy- 
sical science — the circulation of the blood. His discovery 
has eternized his memory, but here his dust reposes with 
many now unknown to fame. In 1578, he was born in a 
humble dwelling in Folkestone, — became physician to two 
of our Kings, James I, and Charles I. — was elected presi- 
dent of his College in his absence, — settled his paternal 
estate upon that institution, and brought the deeds, and 
presented them himself to the College, — and died June 
3rd, 1657, at the age of eighty, full of honours. Admiral 
Sir Eliab Harvey, formerly Member of Parliament for Essex, 
and one of those brave men who supported Lord Nelson at 
Trafalgar, likewise reposes here, the last of his family, the 
estates having been divided among his daughters, as there 
was no son living to succeed him. He paid an annual visit, 
while he was able to do so, to the great oak, standing on 
Mr. Mial's farm, in this parish, now the property of the 
Hon. Robert C. C. Fane, Commissioner of Bankrupts, who 
married first one of the Admiral's daughters. Since then 
this noble specimen of British woods has been considerably 
injured by the fall of one of its mighty arms; but its size 
is still calculated to astonish the spectator, who must view 
with regret those indications of decay in this majestic tree, 
— the impoverished branches — which carry themselves so 
pitifully, in their denuded condition, at the summit of the 
whole. 

Robert de Watervil held the lordship of Hempsted under 



HEMPSTED. 57 

Richard Fitz Gilbert at the Domesday Survey. His son Sir 
Robert succeeded him, and lived at Hempsted in the times 
of King Richard and King John ; and by Maud his wife, 
he had Sir William, to whom, in 1253, King Henry III. 
granted a charter of free warren in his lordship of Hemp- 
sted and Pansfield. His son and successor — the second Sir 
William — married Theresa, daughter and heiress of Sir 
Robert Roos, of Radwinter. 

Hempsted consists of straggling houses, and was formerly 
celebrated for large dairies, which are now much dimin- 
ished. The growth of corn and fatting bullocks, have the 
preference under the existing system : and these give but 
little trouble to the housewives of the present generation. 

We will not venture further on this occasion : we have 
seen the village at all seasons — and the ashes of one whose 
memory is fondly cherished rest on the eastern side of the 
Church-yard. ' It was, we well know, an affecting sight to 
witness her departure, and so was the committal of her re- 
mains, among a crowd of villagers and others, to their long 
repose. The rain fell on the weeping group that followed ; 
and the day has a memorable retrospective character : but 
it is one of the scenes in life's stirring drama that have 
gone by, and serves now for appending a moral to remem- 
brances of other times, but with a flattering hope that a 
bright and beautiful day is still to come, when the virtuous 
and the good shall meet again — never more to part. 



August, 1843. 



58 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 



No. 9.-H AD STOCK. 



Truly we fear the demand may be thought unreasonable 
by our claiming so much time for this locality, but it seems 
as if we had nearly exhausted our thread, while we are sure 
that we shall leave at the end a knot to be unravelled by 
some more able writer. Of this we are satisfied, our sub- 
ject is by no means worn thread-bare, although we have 
well nigh consumed the material with which, on this oc- 
casion, we entered upon our sketching. There is, we feel, 
a very great difference between the sketchings of the 
limner and the writer ; those of the former may command 
admiration at the very first view, while the more detailed 
or elongated workings of the pen, need attention to ascer- 
tain whether they are justly entitled to any notice whatever. 
But our consolation is this, that we have at times supplied 
a vacant column in a highly-respectable and ably-conducted 
paper, and we have also had the personal pleasure of en- 
larging upon scenes dear to our feelings and our home-bred 
joys for half a century. 

Leaving the Castle and Castle Street upon our left, we 
enter now upon the Linton road, where we pass Beans's 
Ropery and the Pound. For very many years this sanctu- 
ary for strayed beaves and others, especially that insinuating 
quadruped, the roving ass, was at the south-west corner of 
Walden Common; but it became too dilapidated for sea- 



HADSTOCK. 59 

sonable renewal, and the noble lord of the manor then 
constructed a more substantial receptacle upon the present 
site. 

We shortly leave, also to the east, the road to Byrd's 
farm, and further on, New-houses. Before the inclosure 
took place we remember the stile and the path opposite the 
latter, where in the meadows the school-boy thought him- 
self well occupied in the full enjoyment of the freedom 
allowed him, while the domine looked on, or conned his 
able lesson for the Sabbath that was to come. Half a mile 
beyond, we pass, on the left, Westley farm. We can never 
forget our visits to this home of the Riders, nor our happy 
goings through the corn-fields, nor the full participation in 
so many farm-house doings, that could not fail to impart 
pleasure to the school-boy's breast. 

Since then, but somewhat further on, has sprung up an 
anomalous building, singular and varied. The builder, we 
believe, was his own architect, and he has therefore followed 
his own taste in a manner strikingly remarkable. The 
passer by might ask, in these days of Puseyism, Is it a re- 
ligious structure ? but the dimensions, upon closer exami- 
nation, would reply — there is not space within for a large 
fraternity; yet, he might be told, there are considerable 
internal conveniences, and such a domain attached to it as 
might recommend it to many an inmate. It is called The 
Hall ; and we are sure that if we had not given it especial 
notice we might have been fairly charged with overlooking 
a peculiar feature in the parochial landscape, on the north- 
ern-side of Walden. 

Also on the left, after passing some neat and pretty 
dwellings, all of recent origin, we come to two very tasty 
cottages, built by the late Jabez Gibson, Esq. They are to 
the right of the road leading up to his favourite retreat 



60 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

Rowley Hill. What pleasure he took in giving more cha- 
racter to the scenery of his birth-place, we well know ; and 
we think with a brother's regard of his unceasing activity, 
of his encouraging smile, and of his zealous feeling in all 
matters, having improvement for their object, and benevo- 
lence for their end. Cut off, by an all-wise Providence, in 
the midst of his days, his removal still seems to have been 
so sudden as to have astounded our recollection, while it 
opened up the floodgates of emotion with a force that was 
utterly uncontrollable. Peace to his dear and honoured 
memory ! But his name and his excellencies shall live in 
the fondest remembrance so long as life continues. 

Rowley Hill is very pleasantly situated ; and Mr. Gib- 
son's altering hand is impressed upon the grounds, which, 
with their attendant capabilities, afford opportunity for 
further improvement. It was in 1840, two years after his 
lamented decease, the house, through the kindness of a 
friend, became the sojourn of a Christian Minister of Wal- 
den, whose health seemed to be materially affected by con- 
sumption. On the last Sunday in 1839, he preached an 
impressive sermon from Job, "When a few years are come, 
then I shall go the way whence I shall not return." Had 
he said months, it would have been every way applicable to 
his own case ; for on the 14th of June following he deliv- 
ered his last discourse from the words of Paul, " He stag- 
gered not at the promises of God through unbelief, but was 
strong in faith, giving glory to God." Here closed his 
ministerial duties. We recollect the morning ; and though 
sanguine himself, it was truly remarked that he would never 
more ascend the same stairs, — nor did he. He returned to 
Rowley Hill, and though he left it once or twice for a few 
hours, in nine days more his death took place. It was a 
beautiful, quiet morning, and in this tranquil seclusion and 



HADSTOCK. 61 

calm abode, the good man breathed his last, never, we be- 
lieve, for a moment staggering through failing faith, but 
strong in the assurance how precious Christ would ever be 
to all believers. His remains were removed in the twilight 
of the day to his own abode, followed by his widow and a 
few attendant friends ; but he still lives in the affectionate 
regards of many who survive him — many who felt that 
while preaching as a dying man to dying men, he did so 
with a force and an energy that was never before so strong- 
ly marked, even when he stood up in the zenith of his 
mental powers. 

On the opposite side of the road is Great Grimsditch 
wood, believed by Lord Braybrooke to have been a military 
station. Of this, looking both at name and situation, there 
is but little doubt ; while farther on, at Little Walden, re- 
cent discoveries have shewn that there the Romans had a 
station in the time of the Emperor Trajan, judging from a 
coin of his found with glass vessels, urns, ornaments, rings, 
&c. &c. This was in a fine field of rising ground at Bur- 
nett End or Burntwood End, from a wood said to have 
been burnt there, also in the time of the Bomans. It would 
appear that this was one of the connecting links between 
their numerous other stations in this vicinity, at a period 
when the country was much more wooded, and when keep- 
ing up a communication with their forces and domiciles 
was of the highest importance to their personal security 
and continued success. 

At Little Walden we continue our ramble to the right, 
and after passing the road that leads to Bavenstock Green 
and Little Walden Park, we come to Mitchell's farm. 
These places imperceptibly bring before us some of their 
departed occupants. We need no witch of Endor to fan 
our purpose in this respect. Adams of MitchelFs (not old 



62 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

Adam — he had been dead long before, except in the cor- 
ruption of our nature), — Adams of Mitchell's was a patro- 
nymic for many years so truly familiar to every parochial 
mind, that we miss the good man on juries, in the market, 
and on the road ; and we imperceptibly sigh after our fallen 
fellows, while we think of his blue coat and gilt buttons, as 
something of a Windsor uniform — the distinguishing attire 
peculiar at that period to the lord of Mitchell's. He died 
before railroads came into fashion, or he might have con- 
sidered an iron highway better far than the one which then 
existed between Walden and Linton. This was little more 
than a watercourse; it was much the same, we think, for 
many generations, as when the Romans left it — till at length 
it was thought utterly unimprovable — and so a new one was 
made to its right : the hills were lowered, and a spacious 
well-conditioned highway was left in its stead, which may 
now be travelled with perfect safety, to the credit of the 
borough, and the comfort of many who necessarily, week 
by week, enter Walden in this direction. Ask where the 
old road took its course a few years ago, and you are point- 
ed to some awful hollows, most unfriendly to springs and 
patent wheels ; and when the present generation shall have 
passed away, it will soon become a tradition of the most 
exciting character as to where ran the Roman road, which 
our fathers appear to have traced, for so many ages, with- 
out any adequate attempt to amend the way. 

Yet this was the public road to Little Walden Park, 
which is now occupied as a farm-house — part of the estate 
of the Marquis of Bristol. In 1578, a year memorable for 
Queen Elizabeth's second visit to Audley End, the Corpo- 
ration books shew that 2s. were paid for "mendynge the 
way at Little Walden Park." Much repair, it is evident, 
was not thought necessary, but it is clear also, that the 



HADSTOCK. 63 

ways were very discouraging at a much later period than 
this Queen's time. We lately read in an interesting work 
— 'The Private Correspondence of Lady Jane Cornwallis, 
1613 — 1644 ' (published last year by Lord Braybrooke), 
of the bad ways even at Cambridge, in 1624. Mr. Bacon 
writing to his "sweet harte" and wife — Lady Jane — 
informs her that he could not attempt visiting her at 
London, with convenience or security, though the jour- 
ney from Cambridge was not much, as he was " altogether 
unprovided for these very fowle ivaies" Good Mr. Sutton, 
founder of the Charter House, by will dated 1611, left 
£66. 13s. 4d. towards mending the highways between 
Linton and Walden. He knew how bad they were, for he 
lived at Castle Camps ; and as he passed this road, or by 
Ash don, his benevolent mind contemplated the comfort 
that would arise from good roads ; and with the like good 
feeling, he had' an eye to the state of other highways in 
Essex and Middlesex, including those between Ashdon and 
Walden. 

The Mansion of Little Walden Park is large, is situated 
near the boundary of Hadstock parish, and commands a 
very extensive view. After passing Monk's Hall, by the 
new road, we shortly enter upon this parish, which is pecu- 
liarly situated, as from Bantom Upper Stile, it is said, the 
view extends to Horseheath, in Cambridgeshire, — the Gog- 
magog Hills, — the Bartlow Hills, — and a vast extent of 
country round. We need not be surprised that the Romans 
had Hadstock then for a point of observation, nor that, from 
the locality, it has been the scene of other inroads. The 
pen of a Walter Scott might people the dells and byways 
here with many bands of former times, until the theme ex- 
cited an interest as deep as that of Abbotsford. It must 
have been a corroding sense of aggravated wrongs that 



64 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

could have led, as tradition avers, to the skin of human be- 
ings being affixed to the doors of the Church, as a constant 
memorial, to those passing in and out, of a bondage dissol- 
ved. The skin of a Dane — some say a Danish King — (a 
portion of it is deposited in the Saffron Walden Museum) 
was till recently seen upon the entrance to Hadstock 
Church, covered with iron-work : the iron remains, but the 
skin has been taken away by degrees. So also at Copford, 
in this county, the Church doors are covered with orna- 
mental nourishes of iron- work, and under them, as we have 
read, may yet be seen the remains of a kind of tanned skin, 
thicker than parchment (this description is correct as to 
the specimen mentioned as being preserved in the Museum) 
which are recorded to have been the skins of Danes who 
broke into and robbed that Church. England never could 
have submitted for such a lengthened period, to so many 
foreign wrongs, of which the Danes eagerly advanced their 
share, had her people then been an united people. Who 
can trace history, at the periods referred to, without deepest 
feeling, that the fair fields of our father-land should, for so 
many centuries, have proved the arena of such bloody con- 
tests ? — contests, too, which still deluged many a sweet 
locality, even at later periods, when foreign dominion was 
looked upon as a tale of other times. 

The Church is considered a large one for a village. We 
leave it on the high ground on our right, as we descend the 
road into the vale where the principal dwellings are found. 
Just look into this sacred edifice, and remark the screen 
which exhibits a curious specimen of carved work — a fox 
delivering a grave lecture to a flock of geese, who are atten- 
tively listening to his paternal admonitions. This is deem- 
ed a satire against the monkish hypocrisy of the times — 
another memorial of wrongs and misdeeds which it was, no 




ft 
<y> 

i) 

(U) 

@ 

(El 



HADSTOCK. 65 

doubt, hoped had gone by — and gone by for ever. What 
then can be the reason why, in our day, we have the pain 
of hearing of the inclination and desire — the busy tamper- 
ing — to restore a system — one of mummery and dead works 
— and utterly opposed to that foundation of an English- 
man's faith — the faith of a Protestant — the Holy Scrip- 
tures ? Can it be the sign of the second infancy of a church, 
many of whose honoured sons have done, and are still doing, 
great good to the common family of humanity ? Pity 't is 
— deepest pity, that man, made after the similitude of God, 
should fritter away his noble and heaven-born faculties — 
as Solomon did in the period of his dotage — in bowing and 
stooping to idolatrous desecrations of the temple devoted to 
the maintenance of our common faith, and the glory of the 
Most High ! How magnificently different are the works 
of the Eternal ! We see it in that ever-flowing stream, 
which, passing under the Church-yard wall, affords an am- 
ple supply of pure unadulterated water, of which the villa- 
gers gladly avail themselves. The well — St. Botolph's well 
— is near the Church ; and may it long continue a symbol 
of the purity of that heavenly lore which should proceed 
from that desk where the Rev. Addisson Carr, — so long 
known and so much respected in this district — pursued the 
even tenor of his sacred calling for so many years. 

The lordship of Hadstock is, we believe, in the Malthus 
family. We do not pretend to know whether facts for the 
Malthusian Theory were drawn from this locality ; but we 
think benevolence of character has been at the root of many 
a system highly prized by its advocate, though startled in 
its progress by much opposition. This manor again brings 
before us that character, dear to Essex and other places for 
his unquestionable philanthropy, Thomas Sutton, Esq., 



66 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

already mentioned, to whom this manor, with that of Lit- 
tlebury, was granted by Queen Elizabeth, in 1560. 

We have already referred to the contests which have 
here taken place : among others, we know that a party of 
the royalists, in 1649, shewed themselves in arms about 
Walden, and were routed at Linton by a party of horse, 
under the command of Major Sparrow, so that it is probable 
the engagement was followed up through Hadstock parish. 
But the villagers sleep on, as the weary sleep upon the field 
of battle, utterly unconscious of the troubles of their fore- 
fathers, or that that tree which is now seen towering in all 
its nobility was watered at its young root by the tears of the 
widow and the orphan, bereft of their earthly protector in 
some nocturnal fray or hostile feud, where the stake at issue 
was an uneasy crown. 

Having visited the several localities to which the various 
roads of Walden naturally conduct us (there are many bye 
roads, each with a legendary tale, or other noticeable cha- 
racter) — we now propose, if circumstances should concur, to 
trace, in another sketch or two, the Town itself, as a concise 
summary of what the place has been or now is, and then 
retire into our usual quietude, considering that if we have 
had the pleasure and delight of interesting an intelligent 
few with our local scenes and traditions, we have also 
agreeably occupied many moments that seemed to our- 
selves to be linked with indisposition, and therefore inap- 
plicable and unsuited to the energetic purposes of busy and 
more useful life. 



October 17, 1843. 



SAFFRON WALDEN. 67 



No. 10.— SAFFRON WALDEN. 



We have so long hesitated at taking up the pen in or- 
der to make some record of this borough, while indisposi- 
tion has also caused such an interference with our former 
train of thought, when we dwelt upon the characteristics of 
this locality, that we fear now we shall not by any means 
do common justice to the subject : yet we feel pledged to 
make such a record, and we therefore recommence this 
series of sketches by detailing matters which we very nat- 
urally hope will interest a few. 

We will enter the Town down the High Street, as our 
forefathers have done before us : it is the natural opening 
in that direction. Lord Braybrooke, to whose history we 
have been oftentimes indebted both for pleasure and assist- 
ance, remarks that the town must have been of considerable 
size early in the 15th century; and High Street was then 
among its most prominent streets, containing, as it does 
now, many good houses; but, from its situation, and its 
connection with various eminent persons in previous times, 
Walden, it seems to us, was of some consequence at a much 
earlier period. In 1042, in Edward the Confessor's time, 
Ansgar, his Master of the Horse, had Walden, or Waledon 
as it was then denominated ; and twenty-four years after, 
William the Conqueror bestowed it upon Geoffrey de Man- 



68 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

deville, who first gave life to the place. History has not 
unfolded itself prior to the 11th century, and we are left, 
therefore, to conjecture as to the people who first planted 
their dwelling-houses in the fruitful vale ; but the probabi- 
lity is that, long before, it was a favourite retreat, and that 
Britons, Romans, and Saxons successively occupied a spot 
where they found the fields gave their increase, and the 
woods and groves supplied ample material for constructing 
abodes and those other purposes of human life which came 
to be appreciated as the wants of mankind increased, and 
the manners of more cultivated kingdoms spread their 
influence over this. 

A part of High Street was formerly called Kuckstolls 
Street, and many still remember the pond which was on 
the site of Hill House, built by the late Mr. Henry Archer. 
This appellation of the street was, doubtless, from the prac- 
tice — more honoured in the breach than the observance — 
a practice of early date, and peculiarly suited to populous 
communities — of stilling arbitrarily the human tongue; but 
the practice is traceable downwards in the Town Records, 
as in 1552, as previously remarked, a new stool appears to 
have been made here for the public good; and it was for 
setting up the aforesaid stool — "cooking stole " — in 1613 
that the large sum of £1. 9s. 3d. was paid. The pond was 
useful in our times in some respects, but detrimental in 
others, from occasional overflowings, while it added little to 
the beauty of the locality in the great street, as it has been 
termed. The capacity of the street was never so apparent 
as now : formerly there were trees in several parts of it ; 
and at that period the road was no road at all, according to 
the present macadamized acceptation. An old person, 
born before the middle of the last century, once told us 
that, when a boy, the ruts were so formidable that he could 



SAFFRON WALDEN. 69 

sit with his legs in them, resting on the excluded material 
as a seat, which formed an embankment on either side. 

But improvements have rapidly stridden in the last cen- 
tury. The road — the high-road — then passed through the 
slade at that part of the street next the Abbey and George 
Lanes, and a footpath for pedestrians was on either side of 
the street ; that portion of the slade was necessarily arched 
over after a time. In the Town Records we find an omin- 
ous entry, in 1653, of a shilling "paid for making clean 
the slade, at Lord Whitlock's request." It must have 
proved, we regret to say, very disagreeable to an occasional 
visitant to have called forth such a request; but it is an 
additional argument that, for the sake of the health of the 
inhabitants of every place, offensive water- courses should 
be remedied as speedily as possible. 

Progressive intelligence, that produces union for the 
general good, has shewn itself in Walden, as in other 
parts of this growing realm; and many improvements 
could be named which sprang out of the noble principle of 
acting voluntarily and disinterestedly, to counteract admit- 
ted evils. The same spirit producing enquiry appears to have 
led the human mind to think and act for itself; as in 1639 
the Society of Friends became an established body in this 
place, worshipping God according to their own views of 
holy writ. But, we lament to say, they suffered persecution 
here, as well as in other parts, for conscience sake ; as three 
shillings were paid at the Bell, in 1664, "when the Quakers 
were committed:" but little was done in those times, either 
good or bad, loyally or disloyally, without alehouse refresh- 
ments. Their Meeting-house, situated in the High Street, 
was opened in 1676, and this worthy body continued sted- 
fast to their faith in those persecuting times; for seven 
years after — in 1683 — fourpence was paid "for nailing up 



70 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

the Quaker's door twice." Well might they, with other 
conscientious professors, sigh for a change of dynasty ; but 
times are happily altered : and now it is a pleasing feature 
among the characteristics of this borough, that "the Friends" 
are some of the most eminent and respectable of its deni- 
zens, and may fairly be called its most liberal benefactors. 

Not far from this Meeting-house is the residence of C. T. 
Master, Esq., the Town-clerk. This was built by Captain 
Collin, who lived there till he had erected and occupied a 
larger house in Church Street. It was afterwards held by 
the Martin family, and subsequently by Mr. George Wal- 
ton, whose ability and peculiarities are well remembered. 

The next house was occupied by Miss Sutherland, whose 
father, said to have borne " a most amiable character," was 
Minister of the Independent Meeting. She and her friend 
Miss Fuller became acquainted with the officers of a regi- 
ment of Dragoons that came to the town, and, lacking the 
consent of Mr. Davey, her guardian, she took leave, in 
company with one of them, Mr. Woodcock, and was mar- 
ried to him at Walden Church. We believe the union was 
both respectable and a happy one. 

On the west-side of the High Street is Hogs-Green, near 
to which, it is understood, there were vineyards ; and in an 
ancient house, now the property of the relict of that excel- 
lent man, the Rev. Robert Fiske, of Elmdon, but formerly 
belonging to the Myddylton family, called Hogs-Green 
House, is a curious mantel-piece, carved with the figure of 
a Ton, in a scroll, between the syllables myd and dyl, 
making the name of its former possessor. The letters, as 
well as the raised work, are formed of twigs of vine leaves 
and branches, with clusters of grapes, which are introduced 
on each side of the scroll. This family probably owned also 
the vineyards. 



SAFFRON WALDEN. 71 

If the soil was deemed, centuries since, suitable for vines, 
it was likewise considered adapted for the growth of hops, 
as there was a hop-ground near Bayley's Lane. That it 
was good ground for producing saffron its name implies ; 
while of late years it has been distinguished for its floral 
productions ; and several amateurs have had annually some 
remarkably fine beds of tulips and other bulbous productions. 

Saffron is said to have been first cultivated in Walden in 
the time of Edward III. ; in 1444 it was a titheable com- 
modity; in 1481 saffron -gardens are mentioned; in 1518 
the owners of certain rude hogs were presented, because 
they had been found trespassing on the saffron -beds; and 
the Town Records further shew that it was an article of 
culture in the reign of Charles II., as in 1663, Pratt was 
rewarded with fourpence for gathering the heads that were 
needed to yield one pound of this valuable produce. That 
it was valuable, and variable, too, in price, we may give the 
following sums paid for a pound — whether of local cultiva- 
tion or not — in the three last centuries : 1548, 12s; 1561, 
25s. ; 1614, 63s. ; 1631, 18s. ; 1647, 22s. ; 1653, 37s. ; 
1663, 70s.; 1665, 81s. 10d.; 1688, 83s. 6d.; 1689, 60s.; 
and 1717, 26s. 6d. In October, 1689, in addition to the 
saffron, some saffron-heads and flowers were also presented 
to King William, for which one Henry Rider was paid the 
sum of 2s. Lord Braybrooke observes that, before the 
beginning of the last century, the quantity grown at and 
near Walden annually decreased, and that by the year 
1790 it had entirely disappeared from the neighbourhood. 
We believe Mr. Alderman Fiske was one of the last to culti- 
vate it from a regard to its long association with his native 
town. 

Let us pass down to Bridge End, and then curtail our 
sketch that we may renew our notes at an early opportunity. 



72 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

In its vicinity, eastward, and in grounds where we loved to 
ramble in our boyhood, there are highly interesting gar- 
dens, formed by Francis Gibson, Esq., and long may they 
add to his enjoyment and that of his family ! On the oppo- 
site or western side of the road is one of the new Lodges 
on Lord Braybrooke's estate, at the foot of the hill — Wind- 
mill Hill — and at the south-east corner of the land which 
was added to the park by his highly-respected parent. The 
present lord has also much improved this part by covering 
in a portion of the slade over which the bridge was thrown, 
and which led to the cognomen, now so well established — 
of Bridge End. The townVpeople had, doubtless, experi- 
enced the want of a bridge for a long time, to curb the 
watercourse ; for it was then, and is still, known as Madgate 
Slade. History avers that, in 1333, Sir Edward de Bohun 
was drowned crossing a brook near Walden, and was buried 
in the Abbey. This was probably the brook that still 
wends its way through the ancient watercourse, which in 
our times — 1795 for instance, (we are grey in years) — was 
memorably filled to overflowing by the great flood of that 
year. Other floods are recorded, — which must have been 
severe visitations at the time in this locality, — namely, in 
1555, "a great flood;" and in July, 1769, when a violent 
storm fell at Walden, and " the lightning split the body of 
the Church and broke all the windows," causing damage 
which it required j8200 to repair. A previous record, 
under date 1445, says — " Great wethering of wind, hayle, 
snow, rayne, and thunder, with lightning, on Candlemas, 
when Walden Church and others were sore shaken." These 
occurrences must have been felt at Bridge End, Madgate 
Slade being the receiver of the waters with which a con- 
siderable tract of country must have been temporarily del- 
uged by a storm of any severity. These waters, meeting 



SAFFRON WALDEN. 73 

in a confined situation, caused an overflow of the banks, 
and rendered rafts necessary to relieve the inhabitants 
whose abodes joined the slade. In 1795 the temporary 
confusion was very great, there being no means of judging 
of the quantity of the coming waters, until they happily 
began to abate. This is catalogued among events that are 
past, and the residents consider them no more than those 
who inhabit the sides of Vesuvius and Etna, whence streams 
of lava have carried desolation, in so many instances, over 
happy villages and fruitful plantations. May the vicinity 
of Bridge End long be ignorant of the damage that might 
accrue to them from the recurrence of a flood ! 



July Mh, 1844. 



74 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 



No. 11.— SAFFRON WALDEN 



In our last we concluded with Bridge End : we will now 
return a short distance, and pass up Castle Street — a broad 
and respectable avenue, whatever may be the character of 
some of its dwellings at the present period. In former 
times, it was, no doubt, considered among the great streets 
of the town ; and one of the chief places of access to the 
lordly castle of the Mandevilles, the remains of which still 
distinguish the eastern-end of the street. The town — or 
its inhabitants — may be said in one sense, and following the 
example of other places, to have removed westward; for 
the most respectable houses are now in the High Street, 
and other parts of the town in that direction. Yet in the 
days of the princely Barons of old, the retainers of the 
family were often passing and repassing this ancient street, 
the upper or eastern portion of which was, at that period, 
within the precincts of the castle, while the remainder of 
the place was most probably in the occupation of the sup- 
porters and vassals of the lordly family — the tenants in 
villanage — men who were glad to rally round some potent 
chieftain to obtain a nominal security, before equal laws 
and a wise submission to established rule wrought out that 
admirable system of public liberty which we now enjoy. 

At the west-end of Castle Street, on the north side, is 
the old Grammar-school, now under alteration and improve- 



SAFFRON WALDEN. 75 

ments, with the view of being reopened for the benefit of 
the town and of three villages in its vicinity, which, by its 
constitution, may send to it a limited number of boys. The 
earliest schools established at Walden date from 1423 : 
these were under the controul of the neighbouring monas- 
tery. From the frequent occurrence of the name of the 
master of the school for the time-being, as an attesting 
witness to ancient deeds and other documents, it appears 
(said the commissioners for enquiry concerning charities, 
&c.) that a school existed in Walden from a very remote 
period. The Grammar-school commenced in 1525, when 
the treasurer and chamberlains of the guild entered into an 
agreement with the abbot and monastery, and the good 
dame Jane Bradbury, sister to John Leche, their vicar, for 
its endowment. This long-sighted woman and her brother 
erected a school-house and school-room; and she also 
granted a rent-charge for the support of a priest, and to 
teach the children grammar, after the order and use of 
Winchester and Eton. The position of the school is defined 
as opposite to the lane, called the Vicar's Lane, leading 
into the Church-yard. It was called Trinity House, and 
the priest was to live in the house called Trinity College, 
near the north door of the Church. The following inscrip- 
tion in plaster is now over the entrance to the school-room : — 

1655. 

AVT DISCE 
AVT DOCE 
AVT DISCEDE. 

William Dawson, afterwards knighted, and described as 
a profound grammarian, was the first master : the present 
one is the Rev. John Collins, M.A. of Trinity College, 
Dublin, and of Queen's College, Cambridge. Sir Thomas 



76 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

Smyth, whom Lord Braybrooke denominates " one of the 
most learned writers and eminent statesmen in the reign 
of Edward VI. and Elizabeth," was educated here; pro- 
ceeding afterwards to Cambridge, he was considered the 
best scholar in that university, and in 1538 was appointed 
public orator. In 1549 he was made Secretary of State; 
and in 1551 was sent on a splendid embassy to France. 
Sir Thomas proved himself a benefactor to his native town ; 
and let the boys who may be educated in time to come 
upon the same foundation emulate his character, of whom 
it is recorded, that his acquired reputation was such that 
the most learned members of the university, and many of 
them his seniors, used to attend him and sit as his scholars. 

Higher up the street, on the south side, the Vicarage 
abuts upon it — and on a high bank, outside its walls, stood 
recently several trees, which the vicar has taken down. 
These were the only trees remaining in the streets, with 
one exception, that had not been planted of late years, as 
is the case with two opposite the residence of Francis Gib- 
son, Esq., in High Street, near to which, at the corner of 
Castle Street, is the one referred to. 

We have said that the remains of the castle are at the 
eastern end of the street. It was built soon after the 
Norman Conquest by Geoffrey de Mandeville, who was 
truly a powerful baron, for he received from William, his 
chief, 117 lordships (39 in Essex) as a reward for his emi- 
nent services. Geoffrey thought well of Walden, and he 
soon began to mix the flints of the soil in a way that has, 
in a great measure, defied the ravages of time. The immo- 
lating hand has, however, sapped a great portion of the 
structure, for it was much larger than any external appear- 
ance at this time would warrant an idea of: parts have 
been taken down, and the site of the Bury-hill cleared within 



SAFFRON WALDEN. 77 

the memory of man ; the portions removed were appropri- 
ated to mending the roads ; but the alarm of invasion led 
to a small oval addition on the western wall, in order to 
make it one of a continuation of signal stations, when vol- 
unteers and an expected foe, were among the features of 
the day. 

Here, on the Bury-hill, stands also a more modern 
building — the Saffron Walden Museum, — and with it the 
Agricultural Hall, constructed at Lord Braybrooke's ex- 
pense, for the accommodation of that flourishing and useful 
institution, The Saffron Walden Agricultural Society, of 
which his Lordship is a most efficient President. We say 
useful institution, because, while we know that the politics 
of the day are professedly excluded from its meetings, the 
good feeling it has engendered, and the encouragement it 
has yearly afforded to the labouring population, have proved 
its beneficial character : any one remembering the circle of 
happy faces they may have seen assembled at a district 
ploughing match, — the labourer's holiday, — must have 
augered favourably of its operations, which we deem a 
great encouragement to any society so constituted, to pur- 
sue an onward course. 

The Museum claims a special note. It was formed in 
1834 by a small society, whose main design was to promote 
the study and extend the knowledge of natural history in 
all its branches. The trustees, however, were not unmind- 
ful of the arts ; and the large collection, for a local 
museum, made in ten years proves what may be done by 
the efforts of a few energetic individuals, deriving, too, 
encouragement and support from a judicious neighbour- 
hood. The late Jabez Gibson, Esq. — that worthy and 
excellent man, whose early removal was so deeply felt in 
this vicinity, — was indeed zealous in its establishment, and 



78 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

contributed to its support with a liberal hand and an intel- 
ligent and zealous mind. Much was he missed ; but this 
Museum and other public objects to which he devoted his 
energies form his best and noblest monument : his remains 
repose in the Friends' Meeting yard, without a stone to 
shew the resting place of his honoured dust — but it is 
known to affection's eye, and it is regarded continually by 
the kindred heart. 

The Common, of which we have spoken before in our 
visits to the villages around, is hard by the Bury -hill. We 
find that in the 26th of Henry VIII. James Williamson, 
of Walden, farmer of the lordship, bound himself in five 
marks sterling with the treasurer and chamberlains, that 
they should without interruption keep their fairs on the 
green called the "Comyn," as they always had been wont 
to do ; and the treasurer was always to cause the ditches to 
be made, so "that carts make no comyn way over the said 
Comyn." In 1695 the corporation paid Is. 2d. for ditch- 
ing the Common, and, in 1699, 15s. for setting sixty young 
trees to fill up the walk at the end of the Common, and a 
further sum of 2s. 6d. in the year following for other trees. 
It was also in 1699 that they expended 15s. for cutting the 
maze at the eastern end. A MS. in the Bodleian Library 
says it was originally made by a shoemaker. This now 
ancient work has not been neglected, or it could not have 
been continued in so perfect a state. The late Mr. William 
Bobinson, who built Grove-house, as well as the curious 
and convenient residence of the present Chief Magistrate, 
Hannibal Dunn, Esq., situated in Market Street, was the 
means of its being recut and turfed with grass in his time ; 
and in 1841 it was again renewed, for which the inhabi- 
tants in general very cheerfully contributed. 

This Mr. Bobinson published an account of the festival 
which took place on Walden Common at the return of 



SAFFRON WALDEN. 79 

peace, in 1814 ; also an appeal to the legislature on behalf 
of the peasantry with regard to athletic exercises. It ap- 
pears by his account that 2,600 persons were entertained 
on the 26th of July, 1814, by the subscriptions of their 
wealthier neighbours, at an expense of £310. 12s. lid. 
A similar festival was held in 1838, on the day of our be- 
loved Queen's coronation. On that event, 4,000 persons 
were entertained at the charge of £334. lis. lOd. The 
tables amply spread for such a multitude — clean and 
orderly — with the leading inhabitants partaking with them 
of the satisfactory old English fare, was truly a goodly, cheer- 
ing sight. There were seventy-five tables in all, arranged 
in a vast oval ; seventy of these had fifty persons each, four 
others were for the ringers, band, constables, assistants, and 
tapsters, amounting to 250, and at the remaining one, the 
stewards were seated. Samuel Fiske, Esq., Mayor, presided 
at the head of the whole, and the Author at the stewards' 
table. The salt in 1814 for the 2,600, cost 32s. lid. ; in 
1838, for 4,000,— 3s. 6d. We will finish our present sketch 
in the words which conclude a published memorial of one 
of the most interesting events, in local scenery, of recent 
times : " To sum up the whole in a few words, it may fairly 
be stated that in no place in this favoured realm — favoured 
by Divine Providence with great and peculiar blessings — 
did a more loyal and joyous assemblage meet than on 
Walden Common on the day of Queen Victoria's corona- 
tion ; and that nearly 4,000 persons, including the presi- 
dents, stewards, &c, partook of the same fare, while the 
thousands who witnessed it, exhibited that laudable and 
praiseworthy feeling which must, while memory endures, 
leave a pleasurable recollection on the minds of all who 
shared in the responsibilities and duties of the day." 

July 17 th, 1844. 



80 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 



No. 12.— SAFFRON WALDEN 



With this sketch we purpose concluding our series ; and 
we need therefore compress much of what we have to say 
into a small compass. We reflect that there may not be 
many who are so interested as ourselves in the place of our 
habitation, and that therefore it is becoming in us to talk 
reasonably, and to imagine that others may have had pa- 
tience enough for the past, but little or none for any future 
productions of our historical pen. 

In one of the chronicles of Walden Abbey, it is recorded 
that the Church was consecrated in 1258, on the festival of 
St. Mark. The present Church, dedicated to St. Mary, 
was erected in the 15th century, in the reigns of Henry 
VT. and VII. It is a light and beautiful structure, and 
with its crocketed spire, set up by Hickman in 1831, ap- 
appears to advantage, and is a striking feature in the local 
landscape in every direction. Upon entering the Church, 
the height and breadth of the nave, as well as the propor- 
tion of the piers and arches, and the airy appearance of the 
whole fabric, cannot fail to rivet the attention: the east 
end and a portion of the chancel were built, says Lord 
Braybrooke, by Lord Chancellor Audley, and there he lies 
interred, with a tomb of black marble — an altar tomb — to 
tell of his decease in 1544, at the age of 56. It is a mod- 



SAFFRON WALDEN. 81 

est tomb compared with many erected to the memory of 
men less eminent, and of minor importance in the stirring 
and uncertain times in which he took so prominent a part. 

From the Church it is but a short distance down to the 
Market Place. This is much improved within the recollec- 
tion of some. The old gaol stood at the bottom of the 
Market Hill, opposite Mr. John Richardson's, and near 
Mr. Leverett's; its removal from thence was truly most 
desirable. In 1761 the foundation of the new Town Hall 
was laid, Mr. William Mapletoft being the Mayor, and a 
gaol was formed on the ground-floor, which led to the 
demolition of the old one. The situation of this was after- 
wards found objectionable from its being open to the road, 
and a new one was built, partly by subscription, adjoining 
the town workhouse, on the hill at the top of High Street. 
Municipal changes have led to this being appropriated to 
another purpose ; and as the establishment of a Poor Law 
Union and the construction of a union workhouse within 
the parish, rendered the old town workhouse unnecessary, 
this, with the gaol, has been converted into dwellings, 
which has added greatly to the respectability of this — the 
main entrance into the place. The town workhouse was 
originated in 1734, and was by no means calculated to 
maintain that separation of such a number of inmates of 
various ages, &c, who looked to it for a home, as was con- 
sistent with their comfort, or the welfare of the whole. 

Having mentioned the Town or Guild Hall, we may 
here refer to the town authorities. The guild was origina- 
ted about 1400 — Henry IV.; and was incorporated in 1413 
— Henry V. The guild continued till 1546, the last year 
of Henry VIII., when it was dissolved. With the incorpo- 
ration of the guild was procured the grant for a school- 
master and a priest ; the schoolmaster to teach grammar, 

G 



82 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

as previously remarked. The grant of the market was 
also obtained, at an annual rent of ten pounds, in lieu 
of all former tolls, farthings, &c. The cost of the charter 
was defrayed by contributions, and by enfranchising per- 
sons from paying their farthings and rents. In a grant 
made, 1514, by Henry VIII. to the guild, it is recorded 
that as he willed to be evermore remembered in their pray- 
ers, so he charitably desired that he might be admitted a 
brother of their order, and his dear wife, Queen Katherine, 
a sister thereof, while Wolsey and others, ladies included, 
were also enrolled among the fraternity. Dame Katherine 
Semer, in her will, deemed herself a foundress. A charter 
of incorporation was procured for the town, at the interces- 
sion of John Smyth, brother to the secretary of state. This 
was in 1549; and the body-politic was then described as 
the treasurer and chamberlains and assembly of the vil- 
lage of Walden ; twenty -four assistants were to be associa- 
ted with the treasurer and chamberlains " from the most 
honest and discreet men of the village aforesaid." Queen 
Mary, in 1553, confirmed the charter verbatim, as did her 
sister Elizabeth in 1558. No change in the government 
of the town appears to have taken place for 125 years. 
Then Charles II., whose return had been so joyously hailed, 
invaded the privileges, not only of the city of London, but 
of some of the lesser corporations. James II., however, in 
1685, granted a new charter, incorporating the town, and 
the burgesses and the inhabitants, by the name of " The 
Mayor and Aldermen of the town of Saffron Walden, in 
the county of Essex." The charter was renewed in 1694, by 
King William III., and James Robinett was named therein 
as the first Mayor. The Municipal Reform Act has now 
altered the constitution of the borough once again, by 
which its governing powers consist of a Mayor, four Alder- 
men, and Councillors to the number of sixteen in all. 



SAFFRON WALDEN. 83 

We remember the old Market-house, which stood at the 
north-east comer of the Market Place. It had a weigh- 
bridge connected with it, which is now removed to a situa- 
tion near to the premises of Messrs. Emson, by whose father 
it was purchased of the corporation. The Market-house 
had stood its day, and was more venerable than ornamental. 

Behind this Market-house still remains the house built 
by Mr. Eobert Mapletoft, upon the site of one of an an- 
cient date. This gentleman, who died in 1782, and is said 
to have been very clever in his profession as a surgeon, was 
the son of Mr. William Mapletoft, during whose mayoralty 
the foundation of the Town Hall was laid. The former 
house is described as a large and very old house, with a 
great porch to it, like an old-fashioned church porch. It 
had also a little garden and its flowers, with pales, in front 
of the Market Place. This property, with two houses be- 
hind, one known as the Priory, abutting on the common, 
all belonged to a wealthy family — Major Holgate's. The 
centre house is now completely obliterated : Mr. Maurice, 
said to have been an odd man, lived in this till he bought 
the Priory, where Colonel Chapman, who married one of 
the Holgates, lived and died. Mr. Maurice took down a 
great part of the Priory, and new-fronted it with red bricks. 
It is now occupied as a ladies' school ; but the most inter- 
esting circumstance connected with it is the belief that it 
was the residence occasionally of Sir Thomas Smyth : the 
principal room and staircase, still remaining, evidence that 
it was intended for an individual of some consequence. 
The piers of the old garden gate are yet in existence, and 
now form part of a summer-house nearly overgrown with 
ivy, and constructed, twenty years since, by the resident 
owner of the house built by Mr. Mapletoft, to which pro- 
perty is now attached a large portion of Sir Thomas 



84 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

Smyth's garden, and a considerable extent of the old wall, 
with its projecting coping, of the period, we believe, of 
Queen Elizabeth. 

In the opening southward, between the Rose-and-Crown 
Inn and the Town Hall, houses stood in our time nearly 
across from the one owned and occupied by the late Mr. 
Robert Paul, who died Mayor in 1839 (the Bell Inn of 
older times), to the White -Horse, leaving only a narrow 
road for carriages. Mr. Paul was active in promoting a 
great improvement in this street, by the removal of the 
houses in question ; and now it forms a capacious approach 
to the new and increasing cattle market laid out in 1831 
upon the site of the Eight-Bells Public-house, which sign 
was then carried to a house at Bridge End. 

Alterations of this order led to the covering in of the 
slade or watercourse passing parallel with East Street : but 
no improvement was more apparent than arching over the 
part adjoining the Common, by which an excellent road 
has been made to the west end of that most valuable acqui- 
sition to the town — whether for useful purposes, or the 
pleasurable recreation of the youthful and other residents. 

The Old-Bell was sold in 1735 by Edward Ball to Abra- 
ham Impey. The house on its northern side was then the 
property of John Ingrey, but in the occupation of John 
Kidman, and had been sometime a part of the Bell : it now 
belongs to Mr. Thomas Patient. Mr. Ball reserved to 
himself, on the south side, a messuage called the Cockpit 
House : likewise, for a time, part of the Bell property, 
with yards and other conveniences, then in the occupa- 
tion of John Smith. The public-houses in the vicinity of 
the market in former periods appear to have been more 
numerous than now (the house south of Mr. Paul's was 
formerly the Black- Boy) — from which it may be inferred 



SAFFRON WALDEN. 85 

that the trade was then far different or more considerable 
than at this period. The number of resident gentlemen 
within the memory of the aged, evidenced, too, the re- 
spectability of the town and its desirable situation. 

The trade is now well understood, and is apportioned to 
the place and its neighbourhood; its only manufacture of 
any consequence is the article of malt, for which the town 
has long been celebrated. There were maltings, it appears, 
in the 14th century, the time of Richard II., since, as his 
commissioners sat here, as already stated, to enquire after 
rents and other things due to the King, they found that 
every man was to pay for a quarter of malt bought or sold, 
one farthing, as every brewer had to pay the like sum for 
every quarter brewed to sell. 

From frequent mention of them in ancient records, it is 
evident that a great many woolstaplers had their homes at 
Walden : and the days of Bishop Blaize are still remem- 
bered by old inhabitants. We believe the last procession 
was held in 1778; and so important was the trade they 
carried on to the good of the town, that the mayor and 
corporation formed part of the throng which annually pro- 
ceeded beyond the bounds of the parish — to Newport and 
Littlebury for instance, — passing Audley End. The fea- 
thers, caps, &c. by which the staplers and their people were 
distinguished were all formed of wool, dyed for the purpose. 
There was a large band of music, with a bishop, chaplains, 
shepherds, and shepherdesses ; one of the latter carried a 
lamb in her lap. Orations were made at the places where 
the procession stopped ; and when it returned a large party 
dined at the Rose Inn, the bells rang merrily, while the 
company that assembled on the occasion, from various 
parts, led to our informant's intimating that Walden never 
was fuller than on these days of public animation. Machi- 



86 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

neiy and manufactories on such an extensive scale as now 
distinguish certain districts of England, have put Bishop 
Blaize to flight, and the hands that would once have been 
engaged in preparing the yarn, &c. in agricultural parts 
are now employed in other ways. 

One remark more will suffice as to the Market Place. 
From the opening to the Butter Market to the house of 
Mr. Councillor Burrows, ran in former times a little street, 
occupying of course a considerable part of this approach to 
the Market Place. There were several houses in it ; and 
the removal of them may be classed with those material 
alterations which have, within a century, added greatly to 
the appearance and comfort of the town. 

From a previous reference, it will be perceived that Wal- 
den had a cock-pit. We also know that bull-baiting was 
deemed an essential affair, for the corporation paid in 1654, 
four shillings for a rope for this purpose; and again in 
1712, five shillings for a rope and collar. These, we be- 
lieve, are now deposited, as the memorials of a by-gone 
age, in the Saffron Walden Museum, while the public taste 
has happily, in a great measure, been generally turned 
from such inhuman sports, to the more sober pleasures 
which ploughing-matches and exhibitions of flowers and 
fruits, and similar reasonable matters, are calculated to 
afford. Manners too, we fancy, have generally improved 
since the 15th century (or even later times), when Roger, 
the parish chaplain, as Lord Braybrooke intimates from 
the manorial rolls, was censured for having struck a neigh- 
bour with his fist, and torn his clothes, the selfsame Roger 
being also further denounced before the court as a common- 
player at handball. 

Walden has not had, of late, any regal visit ; but several 
are recorded as having taken place, from very early periods. 



SAFFRON WALDEN. 87 

Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI. came hither in 
1452. England had never beheld a Queen more worthy of 
a throne, and no woman surpassed her in beauty, while her 
courage was high and undoubted. She is described, too, as 
having been formed by Heaven to supply to the royal hus- 
band the qualities which he required, in order to become a 
great King ; and yet the Walden ringers of that day could 
not welcome her with a peal, for which ungallant conduct 
they were duly fined. Queen Elizabeth overlooked this 
slight to her sex, or was prepared, perhaps, with a heavier 
fine had she not been welcomed as her beauty merited, and 
came twice — in 1571 and 1578. King James I. came also 
twice, — in 1610 and again in 1614. Charles I. and his 
Queen came in 1631 ; and Charles II. thought so highly 
of Audley End and its vicinity, that he desired to purchase 
that princely mansion, to make it a palace. The estate 
was conveyed to his Majesty in 1669, and the Court was 
established there in the following year. He continued to 
resort hither till nearly the conclusion of his reign : his 
last visit to Newmarket, whither it is supposed he went 
from Audley End, was in 1683 ; his death took place early 
in 1685. His royal successor King James II. in his first 
year, renewed the Town Charter, but did not honour the 
place with a visit. King William III., however devoted to 
it an early attention, for he came to Walden in the first 
year of his reign — in 1689 — as is recorded in the mayor's 
book, for Mr. Reynolds, and other gentlemen of Walden, 
waited upon his Majesty, at Audley End, with an address, 
accompanied by a silver plate, which cost j£4. 6s. 6d., and 
the usual oblation to royalty — some saffron, for which £3. 
13s. was paid. No official mention is made of the corpo- 
ration, but the corporation-purse defrayed the expenses. 
Walden, in 1647, was the head quarters of the army 



88 SKETCHES IN ESSEX. 

under General Fairfax ; and the commissioned officers as- 
sembled for deliberation within the church. The troops had 
come hither suddenly from Nottingham, in consequence 
of the wish expressed in parliament by the presbyterian 
leaders, that the army should be disbanded; but after 
remonstrances and agitation, the army was, for awhile, 
satisfied on this head, and the General, at the latter end of 
May, removed his head-quarters to Bury St. Edmund's. 
In June, at a council of war, held at Newmarket, the 
troops subscribed a solemn engagement, not to suffer them- 
selves to be divided or disbanded without full satisfaction, a 
measure in accordance with the feelings, at least, of the 
common people of Essex. Walden, indeed, appears to have 
been happily exempted, in the civil wars, from the blood- 
shed which so frequently attended them. In the period 
of the Commonwealth, 1653, Lord Whitlock visited the 
town, and was presented with sack and oysters, while his 
lady received the royal present of saffron, a pound of which 
then cost £1. 17s. 

A diligent enquirer might detail many other circum- 
stances of considerable or higher interest to the reader — 
at any rate, if he be a resident ; but space and time pre- 
clude much additional matter on this occasion. Yet we 
cannot break off from our pleasing subject without another 
reference to Audley End, so striking an object, and so or- 
namental a theme in these our sketchings. We concur 
with a modern writer, that "its internal grandeur and 
external beauties, replete with all the varieties of hill and 
vale, wood and water, are rarely to be combined in such 
limits." The mansion was thirteen years in building — from 
1603 to 1616 — and was doubtless a truly noble fabric till 
1721, when, through the advice of heavy Sir John Van- 
burgh, three sides of the great quadrangle were demolished. 



SAFFRON WALDEN. 89 

Still view the fabric in every direction, and it may truly be 
termed a noble dwelling, but no position strikes us more 
forcibly than the eastern front, viewed from the side of the 
Deer-park. Its pallatial character, with its trees and gar- 
dens, is there very imposing, and resting in quiet splendour 
amidst such agreeable scenery, it cannot fail to awaken 
admiration . 

The impress of natural beauty is, we think, very percep- 
tible around this favoured place. Stukely visited our valley, 
and saw it encompassed by distant and delightful hills; 
and Thornton in his foreign tour cast his eye back, for the 
sake of comparison, to "the beautifully undulating country 
around Saffron Walden." The same smiling lands will, 
we trust, continue to interest many beholders, while we 
know from experience that few, very few, among its resi- 
dents in our times, see more to attract them in even the 
most favoured portions of our isle. This breathes of the 
love of country and our father -land ; and sincerely do we 
pray that in this age of wondrous change it may still pre- 
serve its sober character, and continue to be a loyal quiet 
home, where the living may enjoy uninterruptedly that 
harmony and good understanding which have prevailed 
here for a lengthened period, and where those who, like 
ourselves, must naturally, in the course of events, ere long 
quit the scene, may repose in peace. 



August 7 th, 1844. 



The Bedford Bookshop 
flu TTnnitaamit 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS J| 



021 397 517 1 



